


Rose Gold

by RoseyPoseyPie



Series: Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better [7]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Anxiety, BAMF Pepper Potts, Canon-Typical Violence, Comic Book Science, Comic Book Violence, Deaf Clint Barton, Extremis (Marvel), Extremis Pepper Potts, F/F, Female Clint Barton, Female Tony Stark, Genderbending, Human Experimentation, Iron Man 3, Lesbian Tony Stark, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-15
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-10 13:25:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 38,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17426729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseyPoseyPie/pseuds/RoseyPoseyPie
Summary: Toni Stark was at the mercy of her father’s demons the day she was born. She was at the mercy of the demons of her sex. Of her sexuality. Of her job. Demons are like viruses. They are made, and they spread. They fester. They get more and more painful the longer they're latched on.Iron Maiden wasn’t supposed to have any demons. She was a hero, an icon. She saved the world.Ironically, saving the world creates demons. Toni is drowning in demons: those that are and are not her own. Despite the support of those around her, they're winning. And when they win, she will lose everything that she loves.





	1. Demons

**Author's Note:**

> You guys... I **love** this one.
> 
> I completely surprised myself, but when I started writing Rose Gold, I quickly fell in love with some plot changes, and I went with them, and I loved them more, so I hope you enjoy it too. For those of you who have been following this series, you might realize the significance of "Rose Gold" as a title, but if you don't, you'll find out soon enough. ;)
> 
> For those of you who are new, Rose Gold is the seventh installment of my "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better" series, and corresponds with the events of Iron Man 3 in the MCU. While you do not have to read the rest of the AYCDICDB series to enjoy this fic, I highly recommend you do, especially the Tony-centric ones, to understand the universe better.
> 
> Also, I have an 8tracks playlist dedicated to this fic:
> 
> [Rose Gold](https://8tracks.com/roseyposeypie/rose-gold?utm_medium=referral&utm_content=mix-page&utm_campaign=embed_button) from [RoseyPoseyPie](http://8tracks.com/roseyposeypie?utm_medium=referral&utm_content=mix-page&utm_campaign=embed_button) on [8tracks Radio](https://8tracks.com?utm_medium=referral&utm_content=mix-page&utm_campaign=embed_button).
> 
> Thank you guys again, and without further ado...

 

Whoever said “we create our own demons” was most certainly a man. The reason why is clear, only a man would have the privilege to make his demons. Only a man would not understand living in a world where your very existence was a point of challenge. Only a man would not understand what it was like to live in a world full of demons. Regardless of class, creed, or color (although those certainly can contribute) a man will always be at a more superior disposition. 

 

Demons are like viruses. They are made, and they spread. They infect others, latching onto them and draining them. They inspire recklessness and vice, which then multiplies and spreads to others, the same demon and new ones — constantly festering. The more resources one has, the more they can make themselves immune, but the greater wealth the demon has when it finally latches on. The more it can take, and fester.

 

Toni Stark was at the mercy of her father’s demons the day she was born. Howard was a man who was tortured by his past. A man who learned in the fires of war to act first and apologize later. A man who did not see his daughter as something that must be protected and cherished, but something that must be molded and constructed until she was his successor in every way. Until she was finally prepared to shoulder his demons.

 

But, Howard was a fool. Howard did not understand that Toni would have more demons than he ever could have imagined, because Howard was born in a society which valued him more than his daughter. In a culture that valued his relationship with his wife more than his daughter’s relationship with the woman, she wanted to be hers. Howard thought he knew how to train his daughter to fight demons because he didn’t imagine that she would ever face the ones that weren’t his. Toni suffered. Toni, who was brilliant and kind as a child, suffered. He pulled out her compassion. He stripped away her confidence and flayed her with it in hopes it would teach her to be strong. So she knew that Starks were made of iron. But iron didn’t protect him from his demons, and it most certainly did not protect her. It didn’t protect her from her father’s demons. From the demons which infected her. From the demons which pinched her thighs and stared at her breasts. From the demons that felt like they had a right to her.

 

Toni’s first drink was when she was sixteen. She spiraled out of control not long after. She was still functioning in her daily life, still surviving from the moment she climbed out of bed to the moment her head landed again on the pillow, but surviving was a poor excuse to living. She preferred being numb because when her father had stripped and flayed her, he never taught her how to put herself together again. She was exposed continuously, bleeding before everyone, and alcohol was the only thing that let her ignore it because that was all she knew how to do.

 

In 1999, the eve of New Years’ for the new millennium, she was supposed to give a speech in Berns, Switzerland. It was supposed to be a simple event — a party. Toni was always very entertaining at parties because she numbed up as soon as possible and let everyone see the mess her father had made. There was a pretty girl at that party, named Maya Hansen. Toni had a lot of experience with pretty girls, but her favorite were smart, pretty girls. She gave a speech. It was unintelligible. She met a man named Ho Yinsen. That caused a lot of regrets further down the line. She convinced Maya to bring Toni back to her room. To see her research, of course.

 

It didn’t matter how much confidence a man had. It didn’t matter if they were wealthy or poor. If they were handsome or not. Every single man felt like they were entitled to a moment of her time, to speak to her, to touch her. Aldrich Killian was no different, except he felt entitled to both Toni and Maya. He ducked into their elevator despite Happy pushing him back. He looked up at them with the expressions that they both knew, the expressions of desire, entitlement, action. Toni barely remembered what he was rambling on about. She had drunk quite a lot. “Advanced Idea Mechanics” stuck with her, as well as his stupid t-shirt and business cards he practically stuffed in her hand. He kept asking - no, ordering - her and Maya to have coffee with him so they could talk about AIM. Toni was drunk. Toni had a pretty girl. Toni told him they’d meet him in the cafe in five minutes. Toni never went to the cafe.

 

Maya Hansen was not just a smart, pretty girl. She was a brilliant, pretty girl. Her work in biochemistry, genetics, and botany was developing plants which regenerated organic material at obscene rates. If Toni was getting lost in her eyes, she was falling in love with her research: she was hacking into the genetic operating system of organisms. It was new. It was world-shattering. It was damn sexy. They were doing plants now, but humans later. Toni sobered up just in time for Maya to drag her into the bedroom and push her tongue down her throat. There was a glitch, in the programming. Regeneration too quickly was immensely exothermic, and thus, explosive. The ficus exploded, Toni remembered. She remembered the curves of Maya’s body a bit better. She also remembered scribbling notes that came to her the next morning for enhancements to Maya’s research. She left Maya asleep in her hotel room. 

 

That was Toni’s Modus Operandi. She drank until she was numb. She found a pretty girl. She had amazing sex. And then she left without a second thought. Of course, that  _ was _ Toni’s Modus Operandi.

 

Now, she had Pepper. Pepper had piqued Toni’s interest the second she rushed into her office barefoot, clutching a binder to her chest. Toni must have fallen in love with Pepper somewhere between that day and the day that Pepper told Toni she liked women, because when Pepper told Toni that there was even the smallest semblance of a chance, Toni’s first thought was not being numb, having sex, and leaving. Toni’s first thought was Pepper from now and forever. It was dumb. It was romantic. It was naive. Toni didn’t care; she had never been in love before. She was always too numb. Afghanistan had made her realize she had no right to be numb, and it showed her what numb had done to her. Toni sought pain, as compensation for all the pain she had caused while she was numb, the pain that had started because of her father’s demons.

 

The issue with trying to do the right thing is it never seems to work. Toni saved New York by fighting a war and flying a nuclear weapon into a portal in space. And all it gave her was more pain and worse demons.

 

What was funny was that the stress and anxiety didn’t set in immediately. It happened gradually, and Toni didn’t understand it at first. Going back to New York was harder. Talking about the fighting was harder. Talking, in general, was harder. The nightmares were rare. And then they were every night. The stress was ignorable, and then it was crippling. It had been a gradual march forward, and a sudden jolt.

 

There was one person who recognized that Toni was acting different, and that was Stephanie. Stephanie somehow became Toni’s friend after everything in New York. The woman was sincere, compassionate, and loving. While Toni had been stripped, flayed, and built metal armor out of her regrets to stay strong, Stephanie had done the opposite. She exposed her beating heart and gave kindness to everyone who stepped into her life. She had struggled like Toni, and she had suffered like Toni, and she only got stronger. 

 

Stephanie was the older sister Toni had always aspired to be, which was hilarious because Stephanie was twenty-seven with the ice subtracted, while Toni was forty-two. Stephanie hadn’t spent her life being numb. She had been learning and growing. And now, Stephanie was impossible to be around, because her goodness made Toni feel inferior. While Toni was fighting nightmares, Stephanie was talking about them at the VA. When Toni was full of regret for the pile of blood money she was sitting on, Stephanie knew precisely how to redistribute it. Stephanie told Toni that it was alright if she needed help, that it was okay if she needed to talk, and if she needed to come to terms with everything that happened.

 

Toni went back to L.A. She said that it was better. Stark Tower was still in development and repair. She’d return eventually. In the meantime, she could watch the water lap at the shore and not have to think about the emptiness of space. The armada of aliens that she killed. They would have destroyed the Earth, and there were so many, and what if she had failed? What was at stake? When she got into those bottomless pits of what-ifs it was hard to breathe, think, exist. She wanted to be numb, and she wanted to feel everything.

 

Work. Work was what Toni did with it. She locked herself in her workshop and cranked out designs like her life was dependent on it. Maybe it was. What would have helped in New York? An army of Iron Maidens. So that’s precisely what Toni made. Suit after suit, ones that could be piloted remotely, and ones that didn’t need pilots at all. They could support buildings, take down aliens, survive the deepest pits of space. What Toni couldn’t do with modern technology, she designed for the future.

 

Toni was pulling away. Pepper knew that Toni was pulling away. Toni knew that Pepper knew that Toni was pulling away. Toni didn’t know that Pepper knew that Toni knew that Pepper knew that Toni was pulling away. It was convoluted. But nothing Toni had could ever be simple.

 

* * *

 

 

It was night. Pepper was asleep upstairs. Toni had work to do.

 

“Ma’am,” JARVIS said. “May I please request a few hours to calibrate-”

 

“No. Forty-eight-” she injected the last micro-repeater under her skin, jolting with the pain. “Micro-repeater injection sequence complete.”

 

“As you wish, ma’am,” JARVIS said. “I've also prepared a safety briefing for you to ignore entirely.”

 

“Which I will,” Toni nodded. She stood up, clapping her hands together with anticipation. “Alright, let’s do this.” She looked over at Dummy, who was sweeping while wearing a dunce cap, “Dummy. Hi, Dummy. How did you get that cap on your head? You earned it. Hey. Hey!” She stood up and walked over to him, taking a few swipes at a punching bag on her way over. “What are you doing round in the corner? You know what you did. Blood on my mat, handle it.”

 

“Ma’am, may I remind you that you’ve been awake for nearly seventy-two hours now,” JARVIS said as Toni grinned and waved at the camera.

 

Toni ignored him, “Focus up, ladies. Good evening, and welcome to the birthing suite. I'm pleased to announce the imminent arrival of your bouncing, badass, baby sister.” She shook herself into preparation, “Start tight and go wide, stamp in time.” She told the camera. “Mark 42 autonomous prehensile propulsion suit test. Initialize sequence.” She rose her hands into the entry position, “JARVIS, drop my needle.”

 

Toni danced on the stage, swinging her hips and shimmying her shoulders to the jazzy Christmas music. It was, after all, nearly Christmas. She started her first activation position at the Iron Maiden suit on her workbench. Nothing happened. She sighed and tried again. Nothing happened.

 

“Crap,” She sighed, gnawing and jabbing at the micro-receptors in her arm. She tried again. The gauntlet flew off the table and onto hers, extending down her forearm and shifting into place. The rest of the arm followed, pauldron slamming into her shoulder and sliding down to meet the gauntlet at her elbow. Satisfied, she stared the other arm. The gauntlet and pauldrons flew over to her and latched into place. She laughed with glee.

 

“Alright, I think I got this, send them all,” She asked. A leg flew through the air, and she checked to catch it, it slid up her thigh and over her prosthetics. The other leg missed her entirely and crashed into a display window behind her. A second piece missed, going for her head even though it was not a headpiece. She lifted her arm to block it, and it bounced off, careening one way and smashing into a light overhead.

 

“Probably a little fast, slow it down. Slow it down just a-” She ducked a second piece going straight to her face. “-little bit!”

 

She caught the second leg with a check. The codpiece slammed into her hips as a part of the back hit her from behind, and she flipped forward, catching herself with the repulsors and hovering back to position.

 

“Cool it a little, will you, JARVIS?” She ordered. The helmet, chest, and abdomen fell into place much nicer, building and clicking into place around her body. The only thing that was left was the mask, which was hovering in the air on the other side of the workshop.

 

“Come on,” She called to it. “I ain’t scared of you.” As it flew toward her, it hit the corner of her workbench and started flying toward her upside down. Not wanting for it to have to bounce off her and readjust, Toni leaned to the side, flipping through the air, catching the faceplate on her helmet mid-air, and landing in a kneeling position with one fist in the ground. The heads-up display activated.

 

“I’m the best,” She said.

 

Just then, a spare piece of the suit came at her from behind and disrupted the entire system. The pieces fell apart around her as she was launched forward, landing on her ass and groaning in pain.

 

* * *

 

 

The first Mandarin bombing happened a month before the attack in New York. It was claimed by a fringe terror group.  One man died, and it had gotten some coverage but was relatively forgettable. The second Mandarin bombing happened two days before the attack in New York. Three deaths, six injuries. It was eclipsed by the sky ripping open and aliens pouring out a few days later. It was two months before the next bombing, this time, the Mandarin revealed himself. Maybe he was unsatisfied by his acts of terror being pale in comparison to the actions of Loki and the Chitauri, but he certainly established himself when he hacked the airwaves and broadcasted himself. A man with a knot at the top of his skull, a shaggy beard, aviator sunglasses, and a glamorous green and gold robe over military fatigues. He broadcasted from a dark, dingy hole somewhere, with stripes of graffiti behind him and statues of dragons. That must have been what he was missing the first two times: Drama. Because then, nobody could shut up about him. The Mandarin, the new face of the Ten Rings, the terror group which had lost Toni her legs and part of her chest.

 

His fourth bombing was a month later. The fifth was a month after that. Consistently, once a month. International law enforcement couldn’t predict where he would strike next. But he always did, once a month. There were trends, of course. Usually, the victims were military. Usually, the locations were military. Several times, the Mandarin broke the airwaves, sitting in his evil lair in his stupid costume, and ranting his own manifesto to recently re-elected President Ellis. Rhodey was investigating it. Nat and Claire were investigating it. Toni doubted there was a law enforcement agency that wasn’t investigating it. There was no forensic evidence. Nothing was indicative of the modern understanding of ammunition. Toni was consulted on the bombings, of course, they gave her access to the information readily. She couldn’t determine much more than anyone else. It was frustrating. And the death toll was piling up.

 

One week before Christmas Eve, there was a ninth bombing at the Ali Al Salem Air Base. And of course, the Mandarin found himself on television again. “Some people call me a terrorist. I consider myself a teacher. America, ready for another lesson. In 1864 in Sand Creek Colorado the U.S. military waited till the friendly Cheyenne braves all gone hunting, waited to attack and slaughter their families left behind, and claim their land. Thirty-nine hours ago the Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait was attacked. I - I - I did that. A quaint military church filled with wives and children, of course. The soldiers were out on maneuver. The braves were away. President Ellis, you continue to resist my attempts to educate you, sir. And now, you've missed me again. You know who I am, you don't know where I am, and you'll never see me coming.”

 

Rhodey was the one that they decided was going to be the face of hope. Captain America was doing charity administration, farmers markets, and motherhood. So War Machine was rebranded and repainted: The Iron Patriot. 

 

“The same suit, but painted red, white, and blue. Look at That. And they also renamed him Iron Patriot. You know, just in case the paint was too subtle,” Joan Rivers said from the television. Toni and Rhodey were out on a lunch date, catching up between Rhodey’s missions and Toni’s manic episodes. 

 

“It tested well with the focus groups, alright?” Rhodey asked as Toni grinned at him.

 

“I’m not criticizing you,” Toni said. “I just thought  _ I  _ was the extravagant homosexual in this relationship.”

 

“It’s patriotism, not extravagance,” He frowned at her. “Listen, War Machine was a little too aggressive, alright? This sends a better message.”

 

“So what's really goin' on? With Mandarin. Seriously, can we talk about this guy?” Toni asked. “I looked at the forensics. There was nada. I can’t imagine how you make a bomb that doesn’t  exist after. If you’re gonna go after him, you might need new gear, Rhodey. Look, you know I can help, just ask. I got a ton of new tech. I got prehensile, I got a - I got new bomb disposal. Catches explosions mid-air.”

 

“When’s the last time you got a good night sleep, eh?” He asked.

 

“Are you talking to Pepper?” Toni asked, shifting awkwardly in her seat.

 

“We meet twice a week to drink wine and talk about you,” Rhodey said. “People are concerned about you, Toni. I'm concerned about you.”

 

“Really? You’re coming at me like that?” Toni asked.

 

“No, no, no, no, no,” Rhodey stuttered. “Look, I’m not trying to be a dic-” Two small children walked over, eyes wide at Toni. “-tator-”

 

“Do you mind signing my drawings?” The little girl asked. Toni smiled.

 

“I do not mind at all. What’s your name?” Toni asked.

 

“Erin,” she said.

 

“Well, Erin,” she looked at the picture. Iron Maiden flying over New York, a portal in the air, aliens streaming out. Suddenly, she felt her chest constrict. “You’re an amazing artist, sweetie.” She managed to scribble out a kind message and her signature without her hand shaking too much.

 

Rhodey whispered to her, “Listen, the Pentagon is scared. After what happened in New York... aliens, come on. They need to look strong. Stopping the Mandarin is a priority, but it's not-”

 

“-superhero business, I get it,” she said. “Won’t ask again.”

 

“How did you get out of the wormhole?” The little boy asked innocently. The crayon snapped in Toni’s hand, and memories of the abyss were flooding back into her. And suddenly she felt her heart hammering in her ears, and the whole world was starting to tip to one side.

 

“Are you okay?” Rhodey asked. 

 

“I gotta - get some air,” Toni said, excusing herself and walking out of the restaurant. She fell to her knees outside, scrambling for her phone. “JARVIS, check my heart,” She asked. JARVIS synced up to her neuro-sensors in both her arc reactor and her prosthetics.

 

“No signs of a cardiac anomaly,” The StarkPhone blipped up an article. “However there was feedback to the neural integration system picked up in your prosthesis. Signs indicate a severe anxiety attack.”

 

“Me?” She asked, panting. Rhodey stepped out, “Hey, hey, Toni. What’s going on?”

 

“Sorry,” she got to her feet and walked over to her car, “I gotta split.”

 

“Toni!” He called after her, but she slipped into the car faster than he could catch up to her.

 

See, that was the thing about demons. Iron Maiden wasn’t supposed to have any. She was a hero, an icon. Toni Stark was somewhat different.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for reading!
> 
> Receiving your feedback is a vital part of what inspires me to continue to write, so just know whenever you give comments/kudos, bookmark, or subscribe, I see it and I appreciate it!
> 
> If you are new and you enjoyed, I recommend again that you read up on the rest if this series while we wait for the next chapter.
> 
> Until then, everyone! :)


	2. Transmutation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the response to the first chapter! I'm glad to know you guys are as excited for this as I am!

 

Pepper Potts was having a long day. In fact, most days were a long day when you were the COO of Stark Industries. COO might officially mean “Chief Operating Officer” but what it actually meant was “the only person who’s keeping the goddamn company functioning in any way.” Pepper didn’t blame Toni. Toni was an engineer who had only gone as far as AP Economics at age 14.  It was a miracle she managed to stay CEO. Pepper was a graduate of Columbia University’s business school and trained in management and financing. Of course, she was going to be better at Toni in every way when it came to running a company. She did blame everyone else which regularly made running Stark Industries her second most significant source of stress. The first was, of course, Toni. 

Currently, it was the company which was the primary stressor on Pepper’s mind. Toni was at home, probably in her workshop because she was always in her workshop. Toni could argue that Pepper was always in her office, so she wasn’t the only raging workaholic. She would be right. The reason that this argument had not occurred was that Toni was always in her workshop and Pepper was always in her office. It was impossible for them to fight. It was also impossible for them to do anything else of nominal significance in their relationship. Pepper was getting agitated. So she worked harder.

“Y’know, Toni’s got robots in her basement,” Happy said, after haranguing the janitorial staff about the badge policy. “They're wearing party hats. This is an asset that we can put to use.”

Pepper tried not to sigh dramatically and instead smile politely, even though she was getting quite overwhelmed with the recent paranoia. “Uh-huh. So, you're suggesting that I replace the entire janitorial staff with robots?”

“What I'm saying is that the human element of Human Resources is our biggest point of vulnerability. We should start phasing it out immediately.”

“Ugh,” Pepper groaned under her breath. Happy snapped at another employee who didn’t have his badge out and obvious. She groaned harder. “Look, listen, Happy,” She turned around, smiling as kindly as she could. “Okay, I am thrilled that you're now the Head of Security, okay? It is the perfect position for you.”

“Thank you-”

“-However-”

“-I do appreciate it-”

“-Since you’ve taken the post-”

“-You don't have to thank me-”

“-We've had a rise in staff complaints of three hundred percent.”

“Thank you,” Happy said. Pepper felt her mind physically blue screen. She stared at him in shock as it slowly rebooted.

“I - I - that’s not a compliment!” She exclaimed.

“That’s not a compli-?” Not it was Happy’s turn to be confused. “It is a compliment! Clearly, somebody's trying to hide something.”

“I-” Pepper started - _ Would really like to jump off a bridge right now. _

“Excuse me,” Pepper’s assistant said, coming over. Pepper immediately turned to her.

“Yes?” Pepper asked.

“Miss Potts, your four o’clock is here.”

“Thank you,” Pepper said. Freedom. Hallelujah.

“Did you clear this four o’clock with me?” Happy asked. And then Pepper remembered who her four o’clock was. She had been dreading the four o’clock. Aldrich Killian. Damn the whole world to goddamn hell.

“Happy, we'll talk about this later. But right now I have to go deal with this very annoying thing.” She said. Of course, he was also a very annoying thing. Everything was a very annoying thing. She could physically feel herself age from all the stress.

“How so?” Happy asked as he trailed her to her office.

“I used to work with him, and he used to ask me out all the time. So it's a little awkward.” That didn’t even begin to explain it. The man was a leerer. He did more than ask her out, he practically demanded she go on dates with him. Limping around, saying “I got us a dinner reservation” or “we have tickets for the opera” and just assuming she’d fall at his feet. And it wasn’t the disability she had a problem with. It was the  _ entitlement _ . The accusations that she didn’t want to date him because of the disability and not because she was solely attracted to women didn’t help him at all.

“And he didn’t know you were gay?”

“Sometimes,” Pepper stopped and sucked on her teeth to collect her thoughts. “Men don’t care if you’re gay because they think that you’ll like  _ them _ regardless.”

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Happy said.

“Neither do I,” Pepper said. “But, he’s an important person in modern STEM industrialism, so I have to do this.” She continued marching to her office, and Happy continued trailing behind her as if it was now his responsibility to defend her lesbian honor. Oh, Happy.

Pepper stepped into her office, and the man stood up. And he was no longer holding a cane. He no longer had stringy yellow hair and glasses. He was most certainly still a man. But she was surprised that he had changed so much in the last decade.

“Virginia Potts,” He smiled, grinning at her. She assumed it was a charming smile, but they tended to lack efficacy on her.

“Killian?” She asked politely.

He leered. He might have fixed his spine, but he was more unpleasant than ever. “You look great. You look really great.”

“Thank you,” She said politely. “You’re also-” nope, couldn’t do it “-different.”

“Nothing fancy, just five years in the hands of physical therapists. And please, call me Aldrich.” She would  _not_ do that.

“Um,” Happy said, “You were supposed to be issued a security badge.” Pepper appreciated what he was trying to do. But she was used to this.

“It’s okay, Happy,” She said. 

“Yeah?” He asked, squinting at her. His shoulders were bowed. It was evident from his posture that all she had to do was snap her fingers and he would pummel Killian.

“We’re good.”

“You sure?”

“Yes,” She said. She dropped her voice, “Stand down.”

“Okay,” he said. He dropped his voice. “I’m gonna linger, right here. If you need an out-”

“Thank you,” she said.

“Okay,” Happy said, leaving, and sitting outside, lingering.

“It’s very nice to see you, Killian,” She smiled at him politely. “Why don’t we have a seat, and we can talk about your project?” She went and sat at her desk, effectively putting a wall between him and her. He didn’t sit down, standing and pacing as if he was giving some sort of TED talk. 

“After years dodging the President's ban on ‘immoral biotech research-’” oh boy, Pepper was in for it “-my think tank now has a little something in the pipeline. It's an idea we like to call Extremis. I'm gonna turn your lights down.” He said, turning her lights down. No request for permission. Same old Killian. “Regard the human brain.” He tossed metal spheres onto her coffee table. They lit up a holoprojection. It wasn’t bad holo-technology. Toni’s was better. Pepper couldn’t help it, whenever she was doing anything, seeing any presentation in research and development,  she knew that Toni was better. “Oh, wait,” Killian joked. “That’s - that’s the universe. My bad. But if I do that-” he pressed a button on the remote on his hand. The projection shifted to a human brain. “That’s the brain. Strangely memetic though, wouldn’t you say?”

“Sure,” Pepper said, crossing her arms and leaning back in her office chair, she was trying so hard not to tap her heels, but her foot just wanted to. She wished for the Jeopardy theme song to start blasting over the intercom. She should talk to Toni about installing a button under her desk. God, that would make these intolerable presentations better.

He was thrown off by her nonchalant response, but he adjusted back to charming in a flash. “Thanks, it’s mine.”

“What?”

“This...you're inside my head. It's a…” he tapped the side of his head. “Live Feed.”

Okay, maybe that wasn’t utterly boring. Pepper stopped reclining, but she didn’t like the way his eyes lit up when she did so. “Come on up, I'll prove it to you.” He stepped onto her coffee table. “Come on.” He beckoned her over.

“I believe you,” she said. “Nobody would lie about live-streaming their neurology.” She wasn’t sure if she believed him, but she was safe behind her desk. She did not want to stand on her coffee table with Aldrich Killian and look at his brain.

His facade cracked again, but he repaired it, back to his charismatic keynote. “Now, Extremis harnesses our bioelectrical potential. And it goes-” he pointed to a part of his mind “-here. This is essentially an empty slot, and what this tells us is that our mind, our entire DNA in fact, is destined to be upgraded.”

“Fascinating,” Pepper said, but she did not let her voice convey the slightest hint of enthusiasm.

 

* * *

 

Happy had asked Toni via text to call her about ideas he had for security measures at Stark Industries, so once she had run full diagnostics after what seemed to be a panic attack, she decided to video call him. She was rewarded with an image of his eyes and forehead.

“Is this forehead of Security?” She joked, sitting down in her lab and cracking open a can of sparkling juice

“What? You know, look, I got a real job. What do you want? I'm working, I got something going on here.” Happy snapped.

“What, harassing interns?” Toni teased.

“Let me tell you something, you know what happened when I told people I was Iron Maiden's bodyguard? They would laugh in my face. I had to leave while I still had a shred of dignity. Now I got a real job, I'm watching Pepper.”

“And I’m glad you’re watching Pepper,” Toni said. “So, what’s going on? Fill me in.”

“For real?” Happy asked.

“Yeah,” Toni nodded.

“Alright, so she's meeting up with this scientist. Rich guy, handsome.”

“Right.”

“I couldn't make his face at first, right? You know I'm good with faces.”

“Oh, Yeah, yeah. You're the best,” Toni agreed, remembering when Happy didn’t recognize Nat when they were Natasha instead of Nathan. But that was Nat.

“Yeah. Well, so I run his credentials, I make him Aldrich Killian. We actually met the guy back in... where were we in '99? The science conference?”

“Um… Switzerland,” Toni said, remembering Yinsen.

“Right, right, exactly.”

“Killian? No, I don't remember that guy.”

“Of course you don't. He's not a blonde with a big rack. At first, it was fine, they were talking business, but now it's like getting weird. He's showing her a big brain.”

“His what?” Toni asked.

“Big brain,” Happy said. “And she clearly is uncomfortable. And you know Pepper, she  _ never  _ looks uncomfortable. Here, let me show you, see?” The camera shifted, but it did not flip around so Toni could see.

“Look at what? You watching them?” Toni asked. “Flip the screen, and then we can get started.”

“I'm not a tech genius like you. Just... just trust me, get down here. Show off your Iron Maiden suit. Intimidate him.”

Either this guy was really bad or Happy was really paranoid. From experience, Toni assumed the latter, “Flip the screen, then I can see what they're doing.”

“I can't! I don't know how to flip the screen! Don't talk to me like that anymore. You're not my boss anymore!” Happy exclaimed. Toni sighed and started searching Aldrich Killian. “Alright, I don't work for you. Now I don't trust this guy. He's got another guy with him, he's shifty.”

“Relax,” Toni urged.

“Seriously?”

“I'm just asking you to secure the perimeter. Tell him to go out for a drink or something?”

“You know what?” Happy snapped. “You should take more of an interest in what's going on here. This woman - this woman's the best thing that ever happened to you, and you-you're just ignoring her.”

“I don’t think I have to be jealous of some man and his big brain,” Toni said.

“That’s not the point.” Happy said. “The point is that you got together because you were there for her. You saved her. You made her feel special. Now, you ignore her.”

Toni shook her head, “I’m not ignoring her, we’re just not living in each other’s pockets anymore. That’s just how it is. The honeymoon period had to end, and I respect her space, especially at work. Pepper never wanted to be the damsel in distress. I show up in my suit to intimidate every man who flirts with her, and she’d gripe at me. Regardless of his giant brain.”

“Yeah, there's a giant brain, there's a shifty character. I'm gonna follow this guy. I'm gonna run his plates and if it gets rough, so be it.” Happy declared.

Toni smiled, oh, Happy, and his tireless defense of their lesbian honor. “I miss you, Happy.”

“Yeah, I miss you too. But the way it used to be. Now you're off with the 'Superfriends,' I don't know what's going on with you anymore. The world's getting weird.”

 

* * *

“Imagine,” Killian continued. “If you could hack into the hard drive of any living organism and recode its DNA.” 

“That would be incredible,” Pepper admitted. She then gave a polite smile, “Unfortunately, to my ears it also sounds highly weaponizable. As in enhanced soldiers, private armies, and Toni is not-” The way that his face perked up when she mentioned Toni made something cold curl in her stomach. She wasn’t jealous that Killian seemed to have some sort of interest in Toni as well. She knew quite certainly that Toni was as interested in Killian as she was. And while it was ridiculous that the man was leering at her and thinking of her girlfriend, she absolutely did not like how his expression was predatory.

“Is Toni here?” he asked, interrupting her.

“She spends most of her time in her private lab,” Pepper admitted. “She is the reason why Stark Industries succeeds.” Of course, Pepper was why it thrived. She would not let anybody forget that.

“You know, I invited Toni to join AIM thirteen years ago,” Killian said. Pepper had an inkling he might have asked her to do more than that. “She turned me down. But something tells me now there is a new genius on the throne who doesn't have to answer to Toni anymore, and who has slightly less of an ego.”

“If Toni turned you down, I doubt it was because of her ego,” Pepper said, sounding too sharp even to her own ears. She watched Killian’s face shift somewhere dark. “I’m sorry, Killian, but I can say with authority that we’re not interested in your biotech program right now.”

“Well, I can't say that I'm not disappointed. But then as my father used to say, 'Failure is the fog through which we glimpse triumph.'” He started cleaning up his holo-balls.

“That’s very deep,” Pepper said, forcing placidity. “And I have no idea what it means.”

“Well, me neither. He was kind of an idiot, my old man,” Killian joked. Pepper smiled politely. She stood up to say farewell. “I'm sure I'll see you again, Pepper.” He told her. She certainly hoped not. He leaned into her space as if going in for a kiss on the cheek. She slipped backward, offering her hand instead. He smiled awkwardly and shook it. She watched him leave, and Happy follow him leave.

At five, she got into her car, and she left. It was date night. And she fantasized about getting Indian with Toni and sitting in the living room to watch Jeopardy and be stupidly normal. And she could slip in her idea about the Jeopardy theme song button in her office and Toni would laugh, throwing her head back. Pepper loved it when Toni laughed. Her eyes crinkled and the sound that came out of her was melodic. And when she beamed, Pepper swore the room lit up.

Pepper parked her car in the driveway and looked up at the behemoth of a stuffed rabbit. The sentiment was not lost on Pepper. She had a small stuffed ragdoll bunny as a child, her name was April, Pepper took her everywhere up until the fifth grade. Toni had laughed at Pepper for a week straight after learning that story. But still, it was a bit much.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” Pepper said. By two minutes, but still. “I was - What the...? What is that?!” She stopped. Toni was reclining on the couch, in her armor. “You're wearing this in the house now? What is that, like Mark fifteen?” 

Toni checked the code on the inside of her gauntlet, “Yeah, something like that. You know, everyone needs a hobby.”

“Oh, and you have to wear your hobby in the living room?” Pepper asked, setting her things down and kicking off her heels. At least Toni wasn’t in her workshop. 

“Just breakin' it in,” Toni said, standing up. “You know, it's always a little pinchy in the gooey bag at first, so.” To emphasize, Toni swung her hips and bobbed her ass. Pepper laughed. “Oh hey, did you see your Christmas present?” Toni asked.

“Yes, I did. I - I don't know how I could have missed that Christmas present. Is it gonna fit through the door?” Pepper asked, sitting down in one of the chairs. She looked fondly at the pile of children's drawings of Iron Maiden that Toni had been gifted. She had to remember to get those framed.

“Well actually, uh…” Toni paused “It's a good question. I got a team of guys coming tomorrow, they're gonna blow out that wall.”

“Okay,” Pepper said, nodding.

“So, uh,” Toni shifted awkwardly in the suit. “Tense? Good day?” She walked behind Pepper and started massaging her shoulders. “Ooh shoulders, a little knotty. Naughty girl. I don't wanna harp on this, but did you like the custom rabbit?”

“Did I like it?” Pepper asked, smiling.

“Nailed it, right?” Toni asked hopefully. Pepper stood up and turned around.

“Well,” She said, running her hands up the smooth metal of the suit, wishing it was flesh. “I appreciate the thought very much.” She leaned close. “So why don't you lift up that face mask and give me a kiss?”

Toni knocked at the helmet. The faceplate didn’t lift. “Huh. Yup, dammit. No can do. You wanna just kiss it on the-” she pointed to the faceplate, “-the facial slit?”

“Well, why don't I run down to the garage and see if I can't find a crowbar to shimmy that thing open?” Pepper suggested, heading to the stairs. Toni followed.

“Crowbar. Yeah.” Toni said. “Oh, except there's been a...uh...a radiation leak.”

Toni was lying her ass off. Was she that embarrassed for Pepper to see her mess? Pepper knew that Toni was not a clean person, she didn’t care.

“I’ll take my chances,” Pepper said.

“That’s risky,” Toni warned. “At least let me get you like a Hazmat suit or a Geiger counter or something like that-” Pepper entered the basement and saw through the glass that Toni was not, in fact, in her Iron Maiden suit, but controlling it remotely from her lab.

“Busted,” the real Toni said apologetically as the suit put itself in a display case.

“This is a new level of lame,” Pepper said.

“Sorry.”

Pepper looked around. She saw a tray of half-eaten food. “You ate without me, already? On date night?”

“She was just-” Toni motioned to the suit.

“You mean you?” Pepper asked.

“Well, yeah. I just mean we were just- just hosting you while I finished up a little work,” Toni said. “And, yes, I had a quick bite. I didn’t eat lunch.”

“I thought you had lunch with Rhodey.”

“There was a thing… I had to leave early,” Toni said.

“Sure,” Pepper said, not even sure that Toni had seen Rhodey at all. She had forgotten, likely, too caught up in her own work. “I’m going to bed.”

“Hold on,” Toni said, ripping the control mechanism off her head and practically sprinting across her lab, “Come on - Pep.” Pepper walked out of the lab. Toni followed her up the stairs, “Hey, I admit it! My fault. Sorry.” She launched off the landing and skidded in front of Pepper, turning around and looking at her with a heart-wrenchingly apologetic expression. Pepper’s better judgment crumbled and she stopped to let Toni talk. “I'm a piping hot mess. It's been going on for a while, I haven't said anything.”

“Oh, really?” Pepper feigned shock. “Well, I didn't notice that, at all.”

“You experience things, and then they're over, and you still can't explain 'em. Gods, aliens, other dimensions. I - I'm just a woman in a can. The only reason I haven't cracked up is probably because you live here. Which is great. I love you, I'm lucky. But, honey, I can't sleep. You go to bed, I come down here. I do what I know, I tinker. But the threat is imminent, and I have to protect the one thing that I can't live without. That's you. My suits, they're uh-”

“Machines,” Pepper said.

“But they’re a part of me,” Toni said.

“They’re a distraction,” Pepper disagreed.

“They’re the only thing I know will keep you safe,” Toni said. “Keeping  _ us _ safe. I don’t want to leave you, and I can’t survive losing you.”

“You think I’m not concerned?” Pepper asked.

“I-”

“I’m more scared of what you can do to yourself than what an alien can do,” Pepper said. “I hate watching you… drift away. I think your armor is more than protection, it’s a wall. Keeping you away from all the bad things that you can’t fix with your tools.”

“That’s… a fair assessment.” Toni agreed.

“Let me help, Toni,” Pepper said. “I’m here. I love you. I want to help you. But I can’t if you keep locking yourself in that workshop.”

Toni stumbled forward into Pepper’s chest, and Pepper wrapped her up in an embrace. Toni started to sob silently. Pepper stroked her hair and held her tight and let it happen, whispering soothing “I love you”s 

“I’m gonna take a shower,” Pepper said once Toni was steady. “And you’re gonna join me. And then we’re going to sit on that couch, and eat Indian food, and watch Jeopardy. And I’m gonna make dumb jokes, and you’re gonna laugh until there’s curry dribbling down your chin.”

“Gross.” Toni sniffled. “Sounds great.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading, I hope you're enjoying it so far.
> 
> Your feedback (comments/kudos/bookmarks/subscriptions) is like, one of my favorite things. You guys have no idea how excited I get when you talk to me, especially! So, I would appreciate your feedback. Thank you all so much for your continued support.


	3. Casualty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again to everyone for your continued feedback and support.
> 
> Things pick up a bit in this chapter, so I hope you're all looking forward to it!

Pepper was sitting on the couch, her eyes were half open as she looked at the blue glare of the television screen. They had eaten the Indian food, and Pepper practically forced Toni to drink tea with her and continue to just sit on the couch and watch mind-numbing television. Pepper’s evil plan worked. As the night went on and the chamomile seeped into Toni’s system, she slowly got drearier and drearier until she was asleep in Pepper’s lap. Pepper had her legs crossed on the couch, a blanket was thrown over them. Toni’s head was on Pepper’s thigh, one of her hands on Pepper’s knee. Another blanket was draped over Toni. Toni was taking deep, soft breaths as she slept, and Pepper absent-mindedly carded her fingers through Toni’s dark hair, fingers massaging her scalp as Toni rested. Pepper wasn’t really sure what she was watching. It was some ridiculously dramatic crime drama which Pepper barely understood, the only reason she was watching it was because she was enjoying the moment as she was drifting in and out of sleep, Toni asleep in her lap. Pepper closed her eyes and didn’t open them until Toni started to stir beneath her hand. Pepper’s eyes opened, looking down at Toni who had a pained expression on her face. She was whimpering.

 

“Toni?” Pepper asked, “Toni, baby, it’s just a nightmare,” she resumed stroking Toni’s hair and Toni stilled, frozen, but no longer panicked. Slowly, Toni relaxed as Pepper continued to run her fingers from the nape of her neck to the ends of her hair, repeating in a steady motion. Pepper looked at the television. JARVIS must have turned it off.

 

“JARVIS,” Pepper whispered to the mansion.

 

“Yes, Miss Potts?” JARVIS asked quietly.

 

“Keep me awake,” Pepper asked. “But don’t disturb us.”

 

“As you wish, Miss Potts, although I don’t believe trading in your rest for Miss Stark’s will fix the situation,” JARVIS advised.

 

“I know. I just want her to get a few more hours,” Pepper said. “When was the last time she slept?”

 

“A few days ago, ma’am.”

 

“Then I can definitely sacrifice one night,” Pepper said. The TV flickered on again, some rerun of an old medical drama. The light hurt Pepper’s eyes, but Toni was fast asleep, and her  expression was soft for the first time in ages.

 

It was probably a bit before seven in the morning when the screen flickered. The old sitcom rerun was interrupted by a flashing screen, a stripe of colors and static, and then the logo of the Ten Rings.

 

“Toni,” Pepper said, shaking Toni awake against her better judgment. Toni shot up, dreary-eyed, realizing that the sun was rising and that she had slept through the night. Then she saw the flashing images on the television. The symbol of the Ten Rings, and then, him. The Mandarin. “True story about fortune cookies.” His gravelly voice said as images flashed on the screen, “They look Chinese, they sound Chinese, but they're actually an American invention. Which is why they're hollow, full of lies, and leave a bad taste in the mouth.” Images flashed to the horrible scenes of a news program. A news program from last night. How had they not seen this? It was in Los Angeles. “My disciples just destroyed another cheap American knock-off, The Chinese Theater.” A fire was pouring out of the tourist trap, sirens were blaring and lighting up the dark street. “Mr. President, I know this must be getting frustrating, but this season of terror is drawing to a close. And don't worry, the big one is coming; your graduation.” The screen faded, and Betty White's sitcom reappeared, but Toni quickly changed the channel to the news.

 

“The current reports estimate seven deaths,” The woman on the news said. “And nearly thirty injuries. Law Enforcement has confirmed that forensic evidence corresponds with that of previous Mandarin attacks.”

 

“They have forensic evidence, at least,” Pepper said weakly.

 

“There was no evidence,” Toni said. “Rhodey said - hell, I’ve looked at the reports. There’s never any bomb parts. I have no idea how he does it.”

 

“Ma’am, now that you are awake,” JARVIS said. “I would like to report a missed call from the Los Angeles Mercy Hospital. They failed to leave a voicemail.”

 

“Why did you get a call from the hospital?” Pepper asked.

 

“I don’t know - JARVIS, can you access the hospital records?”

 

“You’re asking me to infiltrate a hospital, ma’am?” JARVIS requested.

 

“Yep,” Toni said. “Any names we know?”

 

JARVIS was silent for a moment as he hacked Los Angeles Mercy Hospital, “Unfortunately, ma’am, Harold Joseph Hogan was admitted to the hospital last night in parallel with the Mandarin attack.”

 

“Oh my god, Happy,” Pepper said.

 

“How is he? What’s his chart look like?”

 

“He sustained severe damage to the head in the blast, three cracked ribs, and partial first-degree burns,” JARVIS reported. “CAT scan showed signs of cerebral edema, which caused for the doctors in the ICU to decide to induce a coma to reduce brain activity in hopes of resolving the swelling without surgical intervention.”

 

“I need to see him,” Toni said, standing up. “I need to - why was he in the  _ Chinese Theater _ ?”

 

“If I recall ma’am, the last report from Hogan was his desire to follow Aldrich Killian and his bodyguard,” JARVIS said.

 

“Killian?” Pepper asked. “Is Killian in the hospital records?”

 

“No, ma’am, but I have cross referenced all guests to Stark Industries yesterday, and it seems that Killian’s bodyguard was in the ER as he was in the area. Paramedics designated he was unharmed despite superficial damage to his clothes, and he was allowed to leave at the scene.”

 

“You know, my paranoia makes me wonder,” Toni said. “We need to put on real clothes.”

 

“Agreed,” Pepper said. They both went upstairs, to their bedroom, to the large closet. It was their main closet, where the clothes they typically wore were hung. “What are you wondering?” Pepper tossed off her oversized, ratty t-shirt and pulled a blouse from a hangar and a bra from a drawer.

 

“It - maybe it’s just a coincidence that Happy gets blown up at the same place the bodyguard he thought was shifty went.”

 

“How did you know he thought the bodyguard was shifty?” Pepper asked.

 

“I called him yesterday, he wanted to complain about security systems again,” Toni said as she forced her legs into a pair of slacks and hopped as she dragged them up her legs by the belt loops. “Mentioned Killian and his bodyguard. Something about a big brain.”

 

“Ugh,” Pepper said as she zipped up her skirt behind her. “Killian had this biotech idea - Extremis - showed me a live stream of his brain. Creeped me out too. I’m used to men being-”

 

“-Men-”

 

“-Yeah,” Pepper nodded. “But he…”

 

“Did you say ‘Extremis?’” Toni asked.

 

“Why?” Pepper asked.

 

“I met Killian back in ‘99 in Switzerland-”

 

“-he mentioned he tried to recruit you to AIM thirteen years ago-”

 

“-Yeah, well, I had met this woman, you see-” Toni focused on lacing up her boots and not meeting Pepper’s eye.

 

“Ah,” Pepper said as she slipped heels onto her feet. She sounded amused more than anything. “One of those stories.”

 

“Her name was Maya Hansen. She was a geneticist and biochemist specializing in some project called Extremis. It was her idea. She was working on making plants that had accelerated regeneration.”

 

“By reprogramming the DNA?” Pepper asked. Toni nodded. “Sounds like what Killian was trying to explain with his big holographic brain. Quick question - my makeup, can it survive a second day?”

 

“Might wanna touch up the eyes and add some lipstick,” Toni recommended. Pepper hurried over to the vanity. Toni continued  “I think Killian spoke to Hansen and me about AIM. We abandoned him for, well-”

 

“You had sex with her,” Pepper said.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Great, so you think Hansen went back to Killian after your little tryst and actually joined his think tank?”

 

“Possibly,” Toni said.

 

“I don’t know what that has to do with Happy,” Pepper admitted. “Was he there, did he see Extremis? Maybe Killian stole it from Hansen and is cleaning up loose ends?”

 

“It’s still a Mandarin attack.”

 

“Maybe he… coordinated?” Pepper asked. “I’m sure the Mandarin might be willing to take commissions.”

 

“If that is the case then I’m on the hit list,” Toni said.

 

“Maybe you should stay here.”

 

“Absolutely not,” Toni said.

 

“Yeah, knew that wasn’t gonna work. Can you drop me off at headquarters on the way to the hospital?” Pepper asked.

 

“Sure,” Toni said. They went down to the garage together. Toni passed some stupid potted philodendron in a vase that probably cost as much as a used car and stopped in her tracks.

 

“What?” Pepper asked.

 

“Extremis had a tendency to be incredibly exothermic when regenerating, it was an instability Hansen had trouble fixing.”

 

“So?” Pepper asked.

 

“Explosions without any forensic evidence of bomb fragments.”

 

“Damn,” Pepper was silent for a moment. “Maya Hansen you said? Let’s invite her over for dinner.”

 

* * *

 

 

Toni didn’t want to let on to Pepper how terrified she was. Pepper was… Pepper never failed to astound Toni. Toni basically confessed she was a mess, laid bare all her weakness, and Pepper just scooped her up into a hug until she stopped crying and then got Indian food. Pepper stayed up all night long to soothe Toni through her nightmares. Pepper fell into Toni’s paranoia of the attack on Happy immediately, going as far as inviting an old flame of Toni’s just because Toni thought it may have something to do with Happy’s attack. Pepper was the most spectacular woman on the planet, and Toni was somehow the person in this world blessed enough for Pepper to love.

 

Toni was terrified. As she walked through the bright hospital, where everything smelled like antiseptic, she felt her skin crawl. She found her way up to the ICU, being escorted into Happy’s room. Happy was… she had a complicated relationship with Happy. He was sincere, hardworking, and careful. He had been a good bodyguard for Toni for many years because not only did he do an excellent job at keeping her secrets and protecting her, he did a good job and keeping her happy. And now, he was here. And it was the fault of the Mandarin. And maybe there were some other players, like Killian and Hansen, but that didn’t stop Toni’s blood from boiling. Toni texted her with an update, Hansen couldn’t make it to California by that night, but she would be there tomorrow morning. Toni accepted that. She’d start getting answers in the morning. In the meantime, she would be there for Happy.

 

A nurse walked in and checked Happy’s vitals, scribbling something down on the chart. She turned around to look up at the television and startled when she saw Toni sitting in the corner, folded up in a chair, looking nothing like the CEO of the largest technology company on the planet.

 

“Hi,” Toni said. She looked at the remote in the nurse’s hand, “Uh, mind leaving that on?” She asked.

 

“Sure,” the nurse set the remote down. Toni unfolded herself and walked over to Happy’s bedside.

 

“Sunday night's PBS 'Downton Abbey'. That's his show, he thinks it's elegant.” She smiled to herself. “And uh, if you could do me a favor, make sure everyone wears their badges. He's a stickler for that sort of thing, plus my guys won't let anyone in without them.”

 

“Your guys?” The nurse asked.

 

“I’m gonna have some security… keep an eye on him for me,” Toni said. It was the least she could do. She reached out and let her fingers skid atop his hand. “Hang in there, Happy.”

 

Toni headed out of the ICU to the mob of reporters downstairs. Someone had leaked that she was at Los Angeles Mercy Hospital an hour ago and the crowd was reaching a fever pitch. She walked out the guest’s entrance and toward her car. The mob followed her.

 

“Miss Stark! Miss Stark! Our sources are telling us that this is another Mandarin attack. Anything else you can tell us?” A reporter asked.

 

“I think we all saw the broadcast,” Toni said. “Where the Mandarin claimed responsibility. I’m not one of the members of law enforcement investigating this case, so I don’t know anything more than that.” She did know about the bombs, and she suspected more, but she wasn’t going to say something she had learned off-duty from Rhodey on national television. They would be able to trace it back to him.

 

“But, Miss Stark, you’ve worked with the government in the past-”

 

“I was a consultant with S.H.I.E.L.D., yes, for technology, physics, and engineering,” Toni said. “My responsibility isn’t hunting terrorists. I’m sorry, there’s not much else I know.”

 

“But Miss Stark, somebody has to kill this guy,” Some tabloid reporter said, recording everything.

 

“And you’re suggesting it be me?” Toni asked. She wanted to yell. She wanted to scream at the camera, at the Mandarin, threaten him. She wanted to find him, take her suit, and beat him until he was lying in a bed, in a worse state than Happy. But if there was anything that Toni had learned was that the moment she went off the rails was the moment that she lost respect, and she lost her power. So she forced a smile, “I’m flattered.”

 

“Is there anything you’d like to say to the Mandarin?” the reporter asked.

 

“Yes,” she said, “I’m Toni Stark, and I’m not afraid of you. But you should be very afraid.” She slipped into her car, revving the engine, so all the reporters jumped back. Then she moved out of the hospital lot and headed back to the mansion. She needed to do some research.

 

* * *

 

 

“I’ve compiled a Mandarin database for you, ma’am,” JARVIS said. “Drawn from S.H.I.E.L.D., F.B.I., and C.I.A. intercepts. Initiating virtual crime scene reconstruction.”

 

The holo-field projected a variety of documents and data. Toni started looking around. “Okay, what do we got here? His name is an ancient Chinese war mantle, meaning ‘adviser to the King.’ South American insurgency tactics, talks like a Baptist preacher. There's lots of pageantry going on here” She spun around. “Lots of theater.”

 

“Does that indicate anything for you, ma’am?”

 

“The last dramatic asshole I had to fight was Loki and he-” Toni tried not to think about New York. “His big sister always suspected he wasn’t an entirely free agent. I know the Mandarin works with the Ten Rings, have you integrated-”

 

“-our past data from the Ten Rings and your kidnapping? Of course ma’am. It seems that after your success against the group four years ago, they retreated from their attempts to control parts of the Middle East until recently. Intelligence reports suggest their comeback is the sole work of the Mandarin.”

 

“Okay, so there’s a dude,” Toni said. “He’s got a Chinese name, South American tactics, a Baptist disposition, a Middle Eastern terror group, and possibly weaponized biotech from an American think tank. Not to mention the drama of British theater. It’s a - it’s a clusterfuck.” She sat down and spun on her wheeled office chair, “And somehow, I’m in the middle of it. Do you think it’s a coincidence that this guy blew up  _ my _ friend in the city where  _ I  _ lived, possibly using technology that was just proposed at  _ my _ company by a guy who invited  _ me _ to his think tank - and that the technology also corresponds with something that a girl  _ I  _ slept with showed  _ me _ on that same day? It’s - it’s coincidence after coincidence to the point of… I don’t think it’s a coincidence.”

 

“There are certainly multiple intersections between recent events and yourself,” JARVIS said. “I cannot ascertain if the blasts were caused by this biotechnology as I have limited information on its processes.”

 

“Yeah,” Toni sighed. “Okay, what do we know about the bomb?”

 

“The heat from the blast was in excess of 3000 degrees Celsius. Any subjects within 12.5 yards were vaporized instantly.” JARVIS said.

 

“Pull up the virtual reconstruction of the scene,” Toni ordered. It was chaos. Happy was lying on his side, having jumped behind a metal cart of tourist supplies. He had seen the explosion coming. The holograms of broken bodies were strewn around Toni’s workshop. And Happy was pointing at something, she realized, he was reaching to where evidence found a pair of dog tags. “Any reported military victims?” Toni asked.

 

“Not according to public record, ma’am,” JARVIS said. Toni sighed.

 

“Bring up a list of all explosions in the last year in the United States,” Toni ordered.

 

“The Oracle Cloud has completed analysis. Accessing satellites and plotting the last twelve months of thermogenic occurrence now.”

 

“Look for a thermogenic signature of three-thousand degrees. Factor out any explosions of a known equipment malfunction or that have been claimed by the Mandarin.” 

 

The dots on the map vanished, except for one, in Tennessee.

 

“This one - you sure it’s not one of his?” She asked, picking it up. The signatures were near identical.

 

“It predates any known Mandarin attack. The incident was the use of a bomb to assist a suicide.”

 

“Scene reconstruction,” Toni requested.

 

“Incomplete information, unfortunately, this is what we have,” JARVIS reported. A series of documents appeared, Toni flipped through them.

 

“The heat signature is remarkably similar. Three thousand degrees Celsius,” JARVIS said.

 

“That's two military guys. Ever been to Tennessee, JARVIS?”

 

“Creating a flight plan for Tennessee,” JARVIS said.

 

“Thanks. I’m going to pick up Pepper. Tomorrow - well, let’s hope we can get more information from Maya Hansen.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it.
> 
> I've probably said this a hundred times now, but your feedback and support are spectacular. I love hearing from you, and knowing what you think, and just talking to you all in general. Your comments/kudos/bookmarks/subscriptions elate me when I receive them, so thank you so much, I want you to know that I really appreciate it.


	4. Debris

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your continuous support, I hope you will all enjoy this chapter! :)

 

Maya Hansen had arrived early that morning at LAX, she was brought by one of Toni’s hired drivers from the airport to her hotel so she could change, and then from her hotel to the Malibu Mansion for a business-related brunch with Toni and Pepper. The good thing about having your people chauffeur the woman who you need information from is that you are acutely aware of her whereabouts at all moments of the day. Especially when the car you provided was bugged excessively.

 

“How far out?” Pepper asked.

 

“Two minutes, ma’am,” JARVIS reported.

 

“Make sure that we’re in lockdown once she’s entered the front gates,” Toni said. “Monitor all communications internal and external, keep an eye on the perimeter-”

 

“I have even set up the aircraft radar you developed for the Air Force, ma’am,” JARVIS said.

 

“You ready to do this?” Pepper asked. “What are we even doing? In interrogation? I could call Nat-”

 

“I don’t need you to - wait, you have Nat’s number?” Toni asked.

 

“We got along, sometimes we meet up when I’m off on a business trip and get drinks,” Pepper shrugged.

 

“Why am I not surprised you like to hang out with a genderless assassin?” Toni asked.

 

“The car has entered the gates, ma’am,” JARVIS said.

 

Toni and Pepper hurried out of the mansion to greet Hansen as she stepped out of the car. She looked a lot like how Toni remembered her when she was just a postgraduate swept up in the wonders of the Bern symposium. Except now, she had evidently grown into her ideas, looking like the kind of late-thirties scientist which was reforming the industry.

 

“Wow, I’m actually here,” She said, looking over at them.

 

“Doctor Hansen,” Pepper greeted her politely with a handshake.

 

“Miss Potts,” Maya said with equal politeness.

 

“Maya, good to see you again,” Toni said.

 

“Yeah, how long has it been, thirteen years?” Maya asked. “I gotta say, I don’t know why you invited me.”

 

“We’ll talk business inside, come on,” Pepper said politely, escorting Maya into the Mansion. The car left as Maya stepped inside and Toni closed the door tight behind her. They weren’t going to eat breakfast in the grand dining room, but the much more personal auxiliary dining room just off of the living room, where the table had beautiful views of the ocean through a sheet of bulletproof glass.

 

As they walked to the dining room, they passed by Pepper’s Christmas gift. Maya Hansen stopped in her tracks, “Is - is that… normal?”

 

“Sadly,” Pepper said. “That is very normal.”

 

“It’s just a big bunny, relax about it!” Toni exclaimed.

 

“Calm down,” Pepper said. They continued to head through the mansion, bickering.

 

“I got this for you.”

 

“I’m aware of that,” Pepper sighed.

 

“You still haven't even told me that you liked it!”

 

“I don’t like it.”

 

“I asked you three... You don't like it?”

 

“It’s not like I hate it  - I just… what can I do with it? It’s a big replica of my childhood toy. It serves no purpose.”

 

“It’s sentimental.” Toni declared as they entered the dining room and finally sat down.

 

“No, a perfect replica is sentimental - that is ostentatious.” Pepper jabbed her thumb behind her, referring to the bunny.

 

“Whatever, we are here for business.” Toni shook her head.

 

Maya looked at them with a shocked expression, “Oh my god.”

 

“What?” Pepper asked.

 

“You’re _together_ ,” Maya said.

 

“Yeah,” Toni said. “Did we forget to mention that?”

 

“No - you said you were partners -  I just assumed business partners, huh,” Maya said. “That’s… interesting.”

 

“Well, we are here for business,” Pepper said. “We weren’t sure what you liked, so there’s a bit of everything,” they lifted the covers off the platters of food, and there was a bit of everything. Waffles, pancakes, eggs, bacon, turkey bacon, hash browns, fresh fruit (no strawberries), coffee, tea, orange juice, apple juice. Toni helped herself to the gluten-free waffles and fruit.

 

“A few days ago,” Pepper said. “I had Aldrich Killian in my office, presenting an idea from his think tank, AIM. It was a biotech program called, I believe, Extremis. We weren’t interested in his proposal because it was highly weaponizable, but Toni remembered it.”

 

“Extremis was your idea, Bern, right?” Toni asked.

 

“Yes,” Maya nodded.

 

“So you work with AIM?” Toni asked.

 

“I do,” Maya said. “I don’t understand, you’re not interested in my project.”

 

“Not as a proposal,” Toni said. “But we are interested in you as a scientist. If you are one of the stars of that think tank, maybe you’d be better suited with the resources of our research and development teams.”

 

“Extremis is my sole project if I’d have to abandon that, even for Stark Industries, and I am flattered, I’d rather continue Extremis.”

 

Toni and Pepper tried not to make their glance too meaningful. Toni went back to scarfing down her waffles while Pepper smiled at Hansen. “Well, we appreciate you coming out here. It’s been terrifying in LA, with that attack on Hollywood Boulevard.”

 

“I heard,” Maya said, looking apologetic. “I also saw Toni on TV. Threatening the Mandarin.”

 

“It was not a threat,” Toni said. "It was a strong suggestion."

 

Maya gave a weak smile and poked at the eggs on her plate.

 

“So, I do have a question about Extremis,” Toni said. “Did you ever manage to stabilize the exothermic effects?”

 

Maya glanced up, “We’re more stable than we were thirteen years ago. There are still some - I really shouldn’t be spilling secrets. You rejected the proposal.”

 

“We did,” Pepper agreed. “Because we were concerned that Extremis would be a very effective weapon. Designer armies. Super soldiers-”

 

“Bombs,” Toni announced, looking at Maya to study her response. Maya looked up at her with an expression she was straining to keep neutral. “After all, the exothermic reactions could create a very sudden blast of heat, couldn’t they? I remembered that ficus.”

 

“Yes,” Maya said, “The exothermic response could be explosive when unstable.”

 

“How explosive?” Toni asked. “What thermogenic signature are we talking about here? A thousand celsius? Two thousand? Three?”

 

“I can’t really say-”

 

“Did you ever move on to human trials like you wanted to?” Toni asked.

 

“We’ve been considering-”

 

“Because an unstable exothermic reaction with a ficus plant was a firework. Use something with the metabolic complexity of a human, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it vaporized everyone in a ten-yard radius.” Toni said. “And then, you know, it would probably baffle law enforcement from the lack of forensic evidence because the organic matter _is_ the bomb fragments. It’d revolutionize the art of suicide bombing, I’d imagine a lot of terrorists would love to get their hands on that technology.”

 

Maya sighed, setting down her fork. She shook her head, “I knew you were smart, but, uh, I’m impressed.”

 

“You wanted to use this technology to help people, what happened?” Toni asked.

 

“The attacks are accidents - I’d never let my technology be used to-”

 

“Accidents?” Pepper asked. “And so what, the Mandarin is a cover-up?”

 

“Ma’am,” JARVIS said. “I would like to inform you Miss Hansen is attempting to send a text. Should I allow it?”

 

“What’s the text say, JARVIS?”

 

“It reads, quote, ‘they know, send help,’ unquote,” JARVIS said.

 

“Let’s keep communications blocked,” Toni said.

 

“If I don’t check in in the next fifteen minutes, they’re coming after me,” Maya said. “They know my location.”

 

“Good,” Toni said.

 

* * *

 

 

“You know, I’d argue this is kidnapping,” Maya Hansen said. She was sitting in the backseat of Toni’s bulletproof car, Pepper was driving, a metal box in the front passenger seat.

 

“And I’d argue you’re complicit in terrorism,” Pepper said.

 

“What about your girlfriend?” Maya asked.

 

“We’re meeting up later,” Pepper said.

 

“So, what, Toni Stark is gonna fight whoever comes looking for me?” Maya asked. “You’re alright with that plan?”

 

Pepper’s fingers tightened on the steering wheel. Of course, she wasn’t. She wanted to evacuate with Toni, for them to disappear. But Toni felt obligated to try to get these people captured as soon as possible.

 

“Law enforcement is on their way, she’s just keeping an eye on things,” Pepper said.

 

“Why not leave me for law enforcement?” Maya asked.

 

“Because we’re not finished with you,” Pepper said over her shoulder.

 

“I didn’t want this to happen,” Maya said.

 

“But you let it,” Pepper replied. “Now shut up.” She pushed the gas harder as she headed North.

 

* * *

 

 

“How far out, you say?” Toni asked. She was in her armor, waiting.

 

“Fifteen minutes,” Rhodey said. “How exactly do you know the Mandarin is coming?”

 

“I got a personal threat,” Toni said. It wasn’t a complete lie. “He didn’t like what I said on TV yesterday.” Then she saw the helicopters. “He _really_ didn’t like what I said on TV yesterday.”

 

“Toni?” Rhodey asked just as one of the helicopters released a missile at the side of the cliff that Toni’s mansion was built onto. Several more missiles followed, blasting the mansion. The living room exploded. Glass and marble erupted everywhere, the ceiling fell down as the floor blasted up, and Toni was knocked back in the mess of everything, having tried to outfly the blast, but having lost the ability to do so.

 

“JARVIS, what happened to my flight power?”

 

“As I warned you, ma’am, this suit was not entirely combat-ready,” JARVIS said. “Recalibrating flight abilities, a moment, please, ma’am.”

 

“Ugh,” Toni said, she lifted an arm and blasted one of the helicopters’ propellers with a repulsor. The propellers detached from the cab, and the helicopter crashed into the ocean. “That’s one.” She hit the tail of another helicopter with a barrage of missiles. “That’s two.” The helicopter spun toward the mansion, crashing further into it and being the catalyst that was needed to send the entire building into the sea. Toni still couldn’t fly away.

 

“I suggest you take a deep breath, ma’am,” JARVIS said “I have to restart the power system to reactivate flight, life support will be down.” as Toni tumbled into the sea, trapped under a support column which dragged her all the way down to the ocean floor. She held her breath until her lungs ached, and finally, the suit reactivated. She started breathing shallow as she forced herself out from under the support beam and into the air. The lack of oxygen and the stress made her suddenly very tired. “Ma’am! Ma’am!” she heard JARVIS exclaim as she drifted off in the suit.

 

* * *

 

 

Pepper was listening to the radio, a political talk show, as she drove with Maya in the backseat.

 

“We’ve just received a report that Toni Stark has been attacked by the Mandarin,” The man on the radio said. “The military arrived and is currently clearing the rubble, but there is no sign of Miss Stark.” Pepper waited for another hour as they continued to drop in sporadic updates. “At the moment, Miss Stark is suspected to be deceased, according to an officer at the scene. However, they will not declare her without more evidence.” Pepper shut off the radio and activated JARVIS on the car’s console.

 

“JARVIS, can you track Toni’s Iron Maiden suit?” Pepper asked.

 

“There are trackers I can monitor in every version beyond the Mark Two,” JARVIS said. “Which suit would you like to track?”

 

“I think… fifteen?” Pepper asked.

 

“The Mark Fifteen is not emitting nor responding to tracking,” JARVIS said. “I suspect, unfortunately, that it is destroyed.”

 

Pepper took a deep breath. She wasn’t sure it was the fifteenth, she just assumed. It could have been the fourteenth or the eighteenth. She tried to steady herself, “Are there trackers in Toni’s active prosthetics?”

 

“Yes, ma’am,” JARVIS said.

 

“Can you track those?”

 

“The Mark Four prosthetics are currently in Nevada,” JARVIS said. “Heading east.”

 

“Is there a suit at those same coordinates?”

 

“The Mark Forty-Two, ma’am.”

 

“Forty-Two,” Pepper sighed. “She was not kidding about her insomnia. Can I talk to her?”

 

“She is not responding to stimuli, it seems, ma’am, that she’s had a syncopation.”

 

“She passed out,” Maya said helpfully from the back seat.

 

“Where is she going?” Pepper asked.

 

“Rose Hill, Tennessee, ma’am,” JARVIS said. “It would be a thirty-hour drive.”

 

“I don’t know what’s in Tennessee, but she said she’d meet us at the cabin.”

 

“Toni Stark has a cabin?” Maya asked.

 

“Toni owns over three hundred properties across the United States, nineteen of which are residential, and three are multipurpose,” Pepper said. “She owns a cabin.”

 

“Where?” Maya asked. “I ask because I need to pee.”

 

“Oregon, and we’ll stop before then, don’t worry,” Pepper said.

 

“Do you usually kidnap people for your girlfriend?” Maya asked. “Because I knew Toni Stark was weird-”

 

“We came up with a plan together,” Pepper said. “And we didn’t kidnap you.”

 

“No?” Maya asked. “I’ve been seized and will be transported across state lines against my will.”

 

“You’ve also killed nearly a hundred people in at least ten bombings, sorry, ‘accidents,’” Pepper wiggled her fingers to indicate the quotation. “I think if it ever comes down to it, my lawyers would do an outstanding job at arguing that this is heroic.”

 

“It’s not like that,” Maya sighed. “I didn’t want - look, I actually don’t want to work for the Mandarin.”

 

“Does the Mandarin work for Killian or does Killian work for the Mandarin?” Pepper asked. Maya was quiet for seven miles.

 

“We made the Mandarin up,” Maya admitted finally. “To blame the accidents on something else and not lose our grant funding.”

 

“So, this is all Killian’s plan,” Pepper said.

 

“Look - I’m trapped,” Maya said. “If I don’t do what he wants me to do, he will kill me. That’s why I texted them at your place. But didn’t you see? I didn’t check in, so they bombed the shit out of where I was. Regardless of if I was in there or not. They probably have me on the ‘kill’ list by now.”

 

“Then stop bitching and help me,” Pepper said. “If you’re already on the kill list, there are three ways you can get off of it. The first one is to betray Toni and me and go back to Killian, the man you hate because of what he did with your project. And that doesn’t guarantee he won’t kill you. The second is to die.” Pepper stopped talking, waiting for Maya to ask about the third.

 

Maya asked, “What’s the third?”

 

“Help us,” Pepper said. “Killian can’t kill you if he’s locked up. Or dead.”

 

“What’s in the front seat?” Maya asked.

 

“Toni gave me some equipment,” Pepper said, tapping the box lightly.

 

“Is it a suit?” Maya asked.

 

Pepper stayed silent. They eventually stopped at a gas station. Maya was heavily supervised by Pepper when she was allowed to the bathroom, then she was imprisoned again in the backseat while Pepper got snacks from a convenience store. Pepper lugged the box out of the front seat and put it in the trunk that was under the front hood. Maya was promoted to the shotgun seat.

 

“You didn’t fill up the tank,” Maya said as they pulled away.

 

“It’s a Stark Industries prototype, a gift from Toni,” Pepper said. “It runs on an arc reactor.”

 

“Phones, cars, hearts, skyscrapers, is there anything the arc reactor can’t run?” Maya asked.

 

“No,” Pepper said. “We predict by 2020 that the entire world could be run on arc reactor generators and solar for backup, it’s just a matter of getting people to agree to switch. The oil industry hates us.”

 

“Everyone who wants to do anything in STEM these days either hates Stark Industries or wants to join it,” Maya said.

 

“That’s where we want it,” Pepper said. “If we can revolutionize STEM industry and maintain our pro-worker and ethical production, we’re optimistic for the future. Did you know that the fundamental cause for health issues isn’t pollution or a high-sugar diet, but economic inequality? Technology and social welfare can improve the quality of life of everyone, and so that’s what we’re committed to. What Toni’s committed to. Everyone’s so amazed by her super suits and the trouble she gets into, and they don’t realize that she’s strong-arming the planet to utopia with clean energy, healthcare, agricultural innovation, and paid sick days. She’s gonna save the world in the long run because she’s a good person making up for all the bad she was complicit in. She calls it privatizing world peace.”

 

“You are in love with her,” Maya said.

 

“Of course,” Pepper said. “Why is that surprising? I mean - you slept with her. Was it just curiosity or-”

 

“No, I’m bi-,” Maya said. “It’s just - Killian. He talked about you - both of you. Like you liked him. You - he said you and he almost dated, he just wasn’t attractive enough for you.”

 

“He was also a man,” Pepper scoffed. “Is he doing this because he got friend-zoned by a lesbian?”

 

“Not entirely,” Maya said. "But he's definitely weirdly obsessed with you. Has been for ages."

 

“And you worked for this man?”

 

“Do you know how hard it is to get funding?” Maya asked.

 

“Yeah, I give funding,” Pepper said.

 

“Then you know that sometimes, we do things we don’t like because we think it’ll pay off in the end,” Maya said. “I mean, you worked with Toni Stark during her ‘Princess of Death’ days.”

 

“I did,” Pepper agreed. “And you know, part of the reason I work with Toni so well now is that she’s not the only one trying to atone for the past.”

 

The car was quiet for a considerable while. Pepper continued to drive north for several hours. They listened to some classic rock radio station in silence and snacked on the junk food that Pepper had gotten at the gas station. Pepper got a call from Stephanie where she assured the Captain that Toni was okay and they were heading to a safe house. They watched as the world around them turned more and more wintery, upstate California actually having snow and ice. Pepper had grown up in upstate New York, so ice was not much of a concern. Pepper was a safe driver, and she was paranoid while fleeing a terrorist attack. She continuously checked her mirrors, shifted lanes, and took unusual routes, doubling back a few times.

 

“We’re being followed,” She declared after merging onto the highway, looking behind her, she saw a silver sedan follow her. The silver sedan had been one car behind her for the last hour.

 

“What are you gonna do?” Maya asked.

 

Pepper chewed on her lower lip, glancing at the road and in the rearview mirror several times. “JARVIS, do you think you can let the air out of one of the tires?”

 

“Easily, ma’am,” JARVIS chirped from the car console. “All of the tires are automated to empty and refill when needed.”

 

“Why?” Maya asked. “What are you doing?”

 

“Something that a friend told me,” Pepper said. “They’re an assassin, I think they’re advice will be useful here. Those assholes probably tracked my credit card purchase, hacked our servers, I knew I should have brought cash.”

 

“You don’t think it was me?” Maya asked, surprised.

 

“Your phone blew up with the rest of Toni’s mansion,” Pepper said. “And I’ve kept my eyes on you since. Plus, I’d like to have a little faith in humanity. Did you do it?”

 

“No,” Maya shook her head ferociously.

 

“Good,” Pepper said. “JARVIS, where’s the nearest service or frontage road?”

 

“Plotting route now, ma’am,” JARVIS said. “Would you like me to call local law enforcement?”

 

“Not yet,” Pepper said. She merged off the highway and took the windy service road through middle-of-nowhere northern California. The silver sedan followed a few blocks behind. “Pop a tire, JARVIS,” she said. The front left tire slowly depressurized. Pepper steered the car off onto the shoulder of the road and pulled it to a slow park. “What?” Maya asked as Pepper stepped out.

 

“JARVIS, when I give you the signal, put it in reverse and slam on the accelerator,” Pepper ordered the car.

 

“Why?” Maya asked.

 

“Would you rather they take us?” Pepper asked.

 

“Pepper, I gotta warn you,” Maya said. “If these guys are following us, they’re probably Extremis test subjects, they’re all ex-military and extremely loyal to Killian.”

 

Pepper sighed, “Whatever, we’re committed.” She stepped out of the car just as the silver sedan pulled up half car’s length behind them. Perfect.

 

“You’re crazy,” Maya hissed.

 

“Stay still,” Pepper hissed back. She forced an apologetic smile and went over to the two men, clearly ex-military, who stepped out of the car. “Oh my god - Hi! Um… I - could you help? Our tire popped and...  I’m not the best at that. I don’t even think I can _pick up_ the tire, you know, could you-”

 

“No problem, ma’am, where’s the spare?” one of the guys asked as they both came over.

 

“Oh - in the back, here,” she said, opening the trunk and stepping off to the side. They both leaned over the trunk to take the bottom out of it to get the spare, and Pepper lightly tapped on the back of the car. The car slammed into reverse, throwing both of the men backward. The two men landed onto the front of their car, and the car continued revving in reverse, crumpling them into the hood. As it slammed into the sedan, it pushed the engine block of the sedan into the driver’s seat. The Stark Industries car only had some scratches in the paint. “Stop!” Pepper exclaimed. She jumped back into the driver’s seat, shifted the gear into drive, and took off down the narrow service road, the front tire refilling as she drove.

 

“What the hell,” Maya said as JARVIS recalibrated to get back onto the highway.

 

“JARVIS, can you call in that accident? Scramble any trace?”

 

“I will have the call come from one of our factories out of state,” JARVIS said.

 

“You - you _drove into_ two men,” Maya said.

 

“We’re on the kill list,” Pepper reminded her.

 

“What did your assassin friend say?” Maya asked.

 

"Nobody expects to get whacked by the damsel in distress," Pepper shrugged.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> As always, your feedback is appreciated.


	5. Anxiety

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again for your continued support and feedback. I'm always happy when I hear that you've enjoyed a chapter.

 

Toni woke up to a loud alarm as her suit crashed into a forest.

 

“Alright - kill the alarm - I’m up!” Toni exclaimed.

 

“That’s the emergency alarm triggered by the power dropping below five percent,” JARVIS said. Toni realized that she was on a downward arc into the middle of a snow-covered forest and that it was now night. She crashed into the ground very painfully. She popped open her faceplate and took large gulps of the cold, fresh air.

 

“It's snowing, right? Where are we, upstate? Oregon?”

 

“We're five miles outside of Rose Hills, Tennessee,” JARVIS reported.

 

“Why?! JARVIS! Not my idea! What are we doing here? This is thousands of miles away, I gotta meet up with Pepper, I gotta-”

 

“This was the location of the last programmed flight plan,” JARVIS said.

 

“Ugh - but Pepper and I agreed we’d meet at the cabin,” Toni said. “Open the suit.”

 

“I - I think I may be malfunctioning on this system, ma'am,” JARVIS said.

 

“Open eject!” Toni exclaimed. The suit opened, and she shot up, the sub-freezing temperatures chomping down on her to the bone. “Oh, that’s brisk!” She exclaimed, shivering instantly. 

 

“Maybe I’ll just cozy back up for a bit-”

 

“I actually think I need to go now, ma'am,” JARVIS said before the suit lost power.

 

“JARVIS? JARVIS? Don’t leave me, buddy,” Toni begged, but the suit was shut down. She deactivated the thermoreceptors in her prosthetics just so less of her was freezing, and then she  started the slow process of lugging the Iron Maiden suit over to the nearest gas station. It was abandoned, so she stole a woven poncho of the statue of an Indian, and she used the decrepit phone booth to call JARVIS via the Stark Secure Server

 

“Hey,” Toni said. “JARVIS? You kinda left me.”

 

“Apologies, ma’am, the suit shut down, I could no longer maintain a connection via the operating system,” JARVIS said.

 

“Update - how’s Pepper?”

 

“Miss Potts and Doctor Hansen are two hours from the cabin,” JARVIS said. “There was an issue with them being pursued by two of the Mandarin’s henchmen, but Miss Potts dealt with them.”

 

“Dealt with them?” Toni asked.

 

“Perhaps she is best suited for an update, would you like to transfer?” JARVIS asked.

 

“Yeah,” Toni said. “Patch me to her.”

 

There was some beeping as JARVIS used satellites to connect the car to the secure server which Toni was calling via landline.

 

“Toni?” Pepper’s voice patched through.

 

“Hey, Pepper, it’s me,” Toni said.

 

“Thank god, why are you in Tennessee?”

 

“JARVIS flew me,” Toni said. “I passed out, and Tennessee was the last flight I had calibrated.”

 

“What’s in Tennessee?”

 

“The first accident,” Maya said, her voice also on the line.

 

“Oh, Doctor Hansen, good to know you’re still alive,” Toni said. “Yeah, well, I’m stuck here until I can get my suit functioning again. Just go to the cabin, lockdown, stay safe. Pepper I am so sorry for putting you in harm’s way. JARVIS said that there were some men?”

 

“Yeah,” Pepper said. “I kinda drove into them.”

 

“Well, that’s one way to deal with a stalker,” Toni said.

 

“You? How are you? Are you okay?” Pepper asked.

 

“I…” Toni trailed off. “I’ve been better. It’s cold. I stole a poncho off a wooden Indian. I’m gonna - I’m gonna get my suit working and then I’m gonna go after this guy.”

 

“Killian,” Pepper said. “The Mandarin is a cover-up for the Extremis destabilization. They’re not targeted attacks, they’re accidents.”

 

“Where can I find this guy?” Toni asked. “Dr. Hansen?”

 

“Our main AIM facility is a mansion in Miami,” Maya said.

 

“Of course, fucking Florida,” Toni said.

 

“Come to Oregon,” Pepper said. “We’ll group up, call Rhodey, deal with this the right way.”

 

“The quicker I deal with this, the sooner you’ll be safe,” Toni said.

 

“You are so  _ selfish _ ,” Pepper protested.

 

“Selfish? How am I selfish?”

 

“Because you act like you’re the only one who gets to make these tough decisions. Like the crimes of the universe fall on your shoulders. Like everything is all Toni’s responsibility.”

 

“Pepper-”

 

“-You act like your fears for my life are more justified than mine for yours,” Pepper said.

 

“I can do this.”

 

“So can the military,” Pepper said.

 

“Yes, but-”

 

“I could call S.H.I.E.L.D. and have the government dispatched to Florida in minutes.”

 

Toni was quiet for a long time, “You’re right.”

 

“Really? Could you say that louder?”

 

“You’re right,” Toni said. “Okay, I’ll fix up my suit, and then I’ll go to Oregon.”

 

“Good,” Pepper said.

 

“Also, you’re right about the rabbit. It was too big.” Toni said. “I’ll make it up to you. Get you something smaller.”

 

“Well, I appreciate that,” Pepper said. “Stay safe, please.”

 

“Yeah,” Toni nodded.

 

“I love you,” Pepper said.

 

“I love you too,” Toni said. “I gotta go find someplace warm.”

 

“Yeah,” Pepper agreed. “See you later.” The line went dead.

 

* * *

 

 

Toni dragged her suit with her nearly a mile until she found what looked like an abandoned barn. She broke down the door and pulled the suit inside. It seemed that this barn had been converted into some sort of mechanic workshop, a car with some missing parts was shuttered in the back of the barn, the hood popped exposing where someone had been working on it. The tools, supplies, and scraps were perfect for what she needed. “Let’s get you comfy,” She said to her suit, settling it on a couch. “You happy now?” She twisted the helmet, so the suit looked at the door, and she got to work. She went over to the workbench to see what she was working with. She would have to recalibrate her micro-receptors if she wanted forty-two to keep working. She turned on an overhead lamp and used a set of pliers to try to remove the subdermal receptors so she could repair them. She managed to get one out of her forearm and hold it up to the light when she was interrupted.

 

“Freeze!” A sharp voice shouted. Toni looked up at a child - probably ten or eleven years old - who was threatening her. He had a trucker’s hat pulled low over his dirty-blonde curls, a satchel slung over his shoulders, and a gun made of bright plastic in his hands. It looked like it was made out of the kind of tubes that were used for those cheap hamster cases, although his were retrofitted into a potato gun. “Don’t move!” The boy exclaimed.

 

“You got me,” Toni said, raising her arms in surrender. The kid was frozen, clearly not knowing what to do next. “Nice potato gun.” Well, it certainly had its imperfections. “Barrel's a little long. Between that and the wide gauge, it's gonna diminish your FPS.” As if having to prove himself, the boy pointed the gun up in the corner and shattered a glass jar. He looked at Toni with pride. She lowered her hands. “And now, you’re out of ammo.”

 

“What’s that thing on your chest?” He asked, still pointing the empty gun at her.

 

She was a bit surprised by that question. Not many children would focus in on the arc reactor. “It’s an electromagnet,” Toni said, deciding to stay with the simplest explanation for clarity’s sake. “You should know, you’ve got a box of ‘em right here,” She motioned to the grey plastic tub full of magnets.

 

“What does it power?” he asked.

 

Toni stood up, leaning out of the way and shining the table lamp at the suit behind her on the couch. The boy’s eyes filled with wonder and surprise, he dropped the gun and smiled. “Oh my god!” He said, stepping closer. “That - that’s - is that the Iron Maiden?”

 

“Technically, I am,” Toni said.

 

“Technically,” the boy said, walking closer to Toni and handing her a newspaper, “You’re dead.” She looked at the headline.  _ MANDARIN ATTACK: TONI STARK PRESUMED DEAD _

 

“A valid point,” Toni agreed, looking at the headline.

 

“What happened to her?” He asked, looking at the deep gashes and scrapes in the armor from the collapse of Toni’s mansion.

 

“Life,” Toni said. “I built her, I take care of her, I’ll fix her.” She folded up the newspaper and dropped it on the table. 

 

“Like a mechanic,” The kid said, realization on his face.

 

“Yeah,” Toni nodded.

 

“If I was building Iron Maiden and War Machine-” The kid began.

 

“It’s  _ Iron Patriot  _ now.” Toni corrected.

 

“That’s way cooler!” he exclaimed.

 

“He thinks so, maybe it’s a guy thing,” Toni said.

 

“Maybe. Anyways, I would have added the, um, retro-”

 

“Retroreflective panels?” Toni asked.

 

“-To make it stealth mode,” The kid finished with a nod. 

 

“Stealth mode, huh,” Toni said.

 

“Cool, right?”

 

“That's actually a good idea. Maybe I'll build one,” Toni nodded.

 

“Oops,” The kid said as he pulled at one of the hands and a finger popped off.

 

Toni sighed, “Less of a good idea. Would you mind trying not to break her fingers? She’s in pain, she’s been injured, give her some space.”

 

“Sorry,” The kid said.

 

“It’s fine - I can fix it, don’t worry,” Toni said. She had to get over the fact that there was a smart, cute kid. She had work to do. “So, uh, who’s home?”

 

“My little sister and me. Mom already left for the diner and dad went to 7-Eleven to get scratches. I guess he won, 'cause that was six years ago,” The kid looked down.

 

She crossed her arms. “You wanna help me fix her?”

 

“Really?” His eyes lit up.

 

“Yeah, but you have to follow my rules,” Toni said. “Can you do that?”

 

He nodded furiously.

 

“Okay, first of all, I need to know your name, kid.”

 

“Harley,” He said. “And you’re-”

 

“The mechanic, Toni,” Toni said. “Okay, I’m gonna need a few supplies: a laptop, a digital watch, a cell phone, the pneumatic actuator from your bazooka over there, a map of the town, a big spring, and some food.”

 

Harley’s eyes narrowed, “What’s in it for me?”

 

Toni squinted at him, he was probably in fifth or sixth grade. Raised by a single mother, smart and nerdy enough to build a potato gun, but living in a place like Rose Hill, Tennessee. “The kid that bullies you at school, what’s his name?”

 

“How’d you know that?” Harley asked.

 

“Because,” Toni said. “I’m a bit too familiar with bullies. Let me guess, he knocks you around sometimes. Calls you names.”

 

“Yeah,” Harley said.

 

“He’s scared,” Toni said. “Bullies always are. So they get violent and mean because they’re afraid and they want someone weak to take it out on. The best thing you can do is show them that you’re not someone they should mess with, and I got just the thing.” She opened one of the compartments in the Iron Maiden suit and extracted a flashbang. “This is a pinata for a cricket. I'm kidding, it's a very powerful weapon. Point it away from your face, press the button on top. It discourages bullying. Non-lethal, just to cover one's ass.” She handed it to him but then stopped, twisting her wrist as he reached for it. “Do we have a deal, Harley?”

 

“Deal,” The kid said. She let him take it. “What do you want to eat?”

 

“Is it weird that I’m craving a tuna salad sandwich?” Toni asked. The kid shrugged.

 

* * *

 

 

An hour later, Toni finished setting up the recharge for her suit. Her micro-receptors were recalibrated, and she had eaten the sandwich provided by Harley. The suit was charging, her communications had been reprogrammed, and there was nothing left for her to do. She could entertain the child - Harley - in his family workshop, but she suspected that he would follow her around wherever she went. Maybe there was something she could learn from the scene of the crime and about the man involved that would help.

 

“Hey, kid,” Toni said. “I need your help with something. Last year there was a bombing here, right?”

 

“Yeah,” Harley said.

 

“I want to see the site, can you take me there?” She asked.

 

“You’ll freeze,” the kid said candidly. “I’ll get you a jacket.” He left and came back a few moments later with a man’s flannel jacket, red vest, blue scarf, grey overcoat, and a green camo hat. It seemed that the objects belonged to his absent father, and they smelled like they had been in a closet for several years. They were also warm and comfortable, so Toni accepted them with gratitude. The child also gave Toni his mother’s boots, so her prosthetic feet were well disguised. The pair then trekked out into Rose Hill. He kept asking her questions, and she kept trying to avoid answering. She thought, maybe if she gave him a compliment, he would be quieter.

 

“I gotta say, kid,” Toni said as they walked through the small, quaint town. “You’ve been very helpful. The sandwich was fair, the spring was a little rusty, the rest of the materials, I'll make do. But, uh, by the way, when you said your sister had a watch, I was kinda hoping for something a little more than this-” she pulled up her sleeve and showed him the purple Dora The Explorer digital watch on her wrist.

 

Harley laughed, “She’s six! Anyway, it's limited edition. When can we talk about New York?”

 

Toni’s chest constricted, “Maybe never, relax about it.”

 

“What about the Avengers? Can we talk about them?”

 

“I don’t know, maybe later, kid. I’m a bit busy, right now,” Toni said. They had stopped, finally, in front of the site. There were memorial objects in the middle of the crime scene, for the five  lives lost. “What's the official story here? What happened?”

 

“I guess this guy named Chad Davis, used to live roundabouts,” Harley said as he sat at the edge of the crater. Toni looked around at the crumbled walls, and the shadows on them. Harley continued, “He won a bunch of medals in the army. One day, folks said he went crazy and made, you know, a bomb. Then he blew himself up right here,” Harley kicked at the ground for emphasis.

 

“Six people, died, right?” Toni asked.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Including Chad Davis.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Toni continued to pace around the walls, looking at the shadows, her hands gracing upon the only remains of five people. This could have been Happy. “The scene is consistent with an exothermic anomaly caused by genetic manipulation and unstable regeneration of Davis,” She sat down by Harley and pointed at the shadows, “Look at these shadows - there’s only five. That means the sixth body had to have been completely evaporated before the blast - or was the source of the blast.”

 

“People always said these shadows are like the mark of souls gone to Heaven. Except for the bomb guy, he went to Hell on account of he didn't get a shadow. That's why there's only five.” Harley said.

 

“That’s wrong,” Toni said.

 

Harley walked into the epicenter of the bomb site. “You know what this crater reminds me of?”

 

“No idea - and I don’t want to know,” Toni said.

 

Harley continued anyway, “That giant wormhole in New York. Does it remind you?”

 

Now that he said it, that was all Toni could see. The gaping tear in space. The empty abyss behind it. The armada of Chitauri. The explosions. The feeling of death approaching. She closed her eyes and tried to shake the thoughts.

 

“That’s manipulative - I don’t want to talk about it,” Toni said.

 

“Are they coming back? The aliens?” Harley asked. They certainly came back in Toni’s nightmares. That Armada-

 

“Maybe. Can you stop? Remember when I told you, that I have an anxiety issue?” Toni asked.

 

Harley squinted at her, “Does this subject make you - make you edgy?”

 

Edgy was an understatement. Toni’s heart was hammering in her ears. Her hands were trembling at her sides. Her breathing was getting harder, and a burning sensation was growing in the center of her chest. “Yeah, a little bit - can I just catch my breath for a second?”

 

“Are there bad guys in Rose Hill?” Harley asked. Toni couldn’t answer him, it was harder and harder to catch her breath, she was approaching hyperventilation. The boy started to seem concerned, finally “Do you - do you need a plastic bag to breathe into? Do you have medication?”

 

“Nope,” Toni snapped.

 

“Do you need to be on it?” Harley asked.

 

“Probably,” Toni said.

 

“Do you have PTSD?” he asked.

 

“Who knows?” she asked.

 

“Are you - are you going completely mental?” Harley asked, setting a hand on her arm “I can stop, do you want me to stop?” He started shaking her arm when she didn’t respond.“Do you want me to stop? Do you want me to-”

 

“Remember when I said to stop doing that?” Toni asked. “I swear to God - you’re going to freak me out!” He looked up at her apologetically. She realized that it was too late. She had to - she had to get somewhere - do something - every muscle in her body was screaming  _ run _ , and so she did. 

 

“What did I say?” The kid screamed in confusion, running after her.

 

Toni whipped off the overcoat, slammed into a wall and fell to her knees in the snow, leaning against a traffic sign. She pressed her hands into the snow until they stopped shaking and then she scooped up the snow and pushed it to her face. The kid stood beside her.

 

“What the hell was that?” Harley asked. Toni sighed and then threw the snow at the boy.

 

“Your fault, you spazzed me out,” she said. She put the hat back on, “Okay, back to business. Where were we? The guy who died, relatives? Mom? Mrs. Davis, where is she?”

 

The kid rubbed at his nose which must be running in the cold. “Where she always is.”

 

“See, now you're helpful,” Toni said, hoping that Mrs. Davis would be somewhere warm.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading.
> 
> As always, I love your support, so don't hesitate to leave feedback when you want to!


	6. Ambition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for your constant support and feedback, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

 

Pepper pulled through the front gates of the Stark woodland cabin. In the woodlands of Oregon, there was a layer of snow over everything. Pepper wished she had a warmer jacket. She pulled up as close as she could to the front doors, and she and Maya rushed inside, snow clinging to their clothes which were suited for southern California. 

 

“What is this place?” Maya asked as they went inside.

 

“Howard Stark liked to get away from everything and spend a few weeks in a cabin,” Pepper said. “Helped him clear his head or something. Toni retrofitted this place to be a safe house in case I needed a place to go if something like New York happened again.”

 

“Must be nice to have a billionaire superhero girlfriend, so you have a contingency for the apocalypse,” Maya said, looking around the cabin. It had the classic rustic interior design, but it also had electric lights, heating, and running water.

 

“Arc reactor generator?” Maya asked.

 

“Of course,” Pepper said. “And solar panels. And the property has a year of food and micro-farming facilities for low-photon intellicrops. I need to bring in the box.”

 

“What’s in the box?” Maya asked.

 

“You’ll see,” Pepper said. She disappeared into what seemed to be the master bedroom and came out with a heavy coat. She went outside and came back in a few moments later lugging the heavy box behind her. She pulled it into the living room and shut out the freezing snow. Maya helped her lift the box into the center of the living room. Pepper pressed her hand to the smooth console, and a hologram lit up.

 

“I’ve heard of Stark Industries’ holotables, but this is amazing,” Maya said.

 

“Thank you, Doctor Hansen,” JARVIS said.

 

“Toni insisted I bring the mansion’s OS with, good thing I did since the house was blown up,” Pepper said. “JARVIS can you tap into the security for the cabin property?”

 

“The system is quite sparse and developed from an antiquated system, but I will do my best,” JARVIS said.

 

“So, we just wait here until Toni comes?” Maya asked.

 

“Yeah,” Pepper said. “I don’t know how deep this Extremis thing is, so I don’t feel comfortable taking the next step until Toni is here. She has a knack for this.”

 

“Saving the world?” Maya asked.

 

“Getting me out of trouble,” Pepper said.

 

“You’d think it’s the other way around,” Maya said.

 

“It’s more mutual than most people believe,” Pepper shrugged. “Toni and I help each other. We’re partners, professionally and romantically.”

 

“I think,” Maya said as she sat down on the couch, “I’m still struggling to get over the fact that Toni Stark is monogamous.”

 

“I don’t blame you,” Pepper said. “I didn’t think she was the romantic type until I was on the receiving end of it.”

 

“You gonna marry her?” Maya asked.

 

“I want to,” Pepper said. “Hell, I even picked out a ring.” She picked up her purse and dug around the bottom, lifting a dark blue case. “I picked it out after she met my mother. Mom loved her, so, I just knew I was ready.” She opened the case and showed Maya the ring. It had a modest, circular diamond set on a band which twisted over itself on each side of the top of the ring, forming two infinity symbols. “I was going to get it in a gold-titanium alloy like her suit, but when I went to order it from our metallurgists I saw that for some reason we had a rose gold and titanium alloy, and, well, I love rose gold so I thought it’d remind her of me.”

 

“When did she meet your mother?”

 

“Nearly a year before New York,” Pepper said, snapping the box shut.

 

“So why haven’t you-”

 

“It's not like we haven't talked about it. I _know_  she already has a wedding Pinterest. I… I want for people to know that we’re - that I’m her girlfriend and that she’s mine,” Pepper said. “I’ve never wanted to hide a part of myself, and I definitely wouldn’t want to have to lie and say that she’s not my girlfriend, or eventually, my wife when she is. But, she isn’t ready. And I get it.”

 

“She’s Toni Stark.”

 

“She’s spent the last thirty-something years of her life working her ass off to make sure nobody knows that she’s gay. She was afraid of her father’s opinion, and then the public opinion, and that just hasn’t gone away. Even if she’s Iron Maiden, you know? I don’t want to force her into doing something like that when she isn’t ready, so I’m gonna wait until she is. Maybe I’ll never get to propose to her, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to help her.” Pepper tucked the box back in her purse. “What about you?”

 

“I’m married to my work,” Maya said.

 

“Right,” Pepper said.

 

“I know you must not have a high opinion of me,” Maya sighed. There was a pause. She looked forward. “Before he developed rockets for the Nazis, the idealistic Wernher von Braun dreamed  of space travel.” She let out a huff of air and smiled, “He stargazed.” She sighed. “ Do you know what he said when the first V-2 hit London? ‘The rocket performed perfectly. It just landed on the wrong planet.’ See, we all begin wide-eyed. Pure science. And then the ego steps in - the obsession. And you look up, you're a long way from shore. I didn’t realize how deep I was in AIM until… until I couldn’t see the shore anymore. So I know you probably have plenty of judgment for what I’ve done. And I’m not arguing that I didn’t do those things. But I’m not evil,” Maya said. “I just made too many mistakes.”

 

“I don’t think you’re evil,” Pepper said. “But I also think that you could’ve realized earlier the harm you were doing. You didn’t because you cared about the success too much.”

 

“You’re not wrong,” Maya said. “Do you know what’s going to happen to me?”

 

“With hope? You’ll tell the government everything. Flip on Killian and the Mandarin and all of AIM. And then, probably witness protection?”

 

“Change my name, dye my hair, work at a Walmart in the Midwest somewhere?” Maya asked. She sighed, “Probably better than I deserve.”

 

* * *

 

 

Maya and Pepper ate dinner, Pepper managed to make something edible out of the stores of canned food. It was late, and they hadn’t heard back from Toni yet. Pepper decided to head off to bed. Maya would sleep on the couch. She was locked out of the controls for the holotable and the car, so Pepper felt like it was safe to leave her unattended since her best way of escape was hiking through the woods in Oregon. Pepper settled into the empty bed. She missed Toni. It was stupid. But the house was blown up, Toni was with a powerless suit in Tennessee, and Pepper was stuck in a cabin in Oregon. Pepper rifled through her purse again and took out the ring. She turned it in her hands until she fell asleep.

 

She woke up to the sound of banging on her door. She flung the door open to see a stricken Maya Hansen standing with a walking stick raised like a bludgeon. “The table - JARVIS - there are people here!” She exclaimed.

 

“Dammit,” Pepper said. “Did you-”  _ contact someone? _

 

“Kill list, remember?” Maya asked. Pepper nodded.

 

She walked into the living space, “JARVIS, talk to me!”

 

“There are four cars at the gate,” JARVIS said. “They have shot the intercom system at the front gate and are currently attempting to break the electromagnetic locks.”

 

“That’s hard to do, right?” Maya asked.

 

“There is a flaw in the system, unfortunately,” JARVIS said. “They can release the polarity from the external pin box if they- oh, nevermind.”

 

“What?”

 

“They have melted through the gate.”

 

“Extremis,” Maya sighed.

 

“They can melt through a gate,” Pepper said, voice strained.

 

“It was only made of steel, ma’am, another security oversight, unfortunately,” JARVIS reported. “I have sent multiple SOS reports to Miss Stark, but her suit is not operational yet.”

 

“What are we going to do?” Maya asked.

 

“I have an idea,” Pepper said. She went into the master bedroom and flung the floor rug off. Sitting at the foot of the bed was a trap door. “It’s supposed to be a fallout shelter.”

 

“Toni Stark doesn’t mess around,” Maya said.

 

“Actually, her father built it,” Pepper said. “He was on the Manhattan project - always afraid of nuclear war. Get in there.”

 

“What - why?” Maya asked.

 

“Because I told you too,” Pepper said. “Get! In! There!”

 

Maya conceded to Pepper and went in through the trap door. “Are you coming with?”

 

“No - I have to set up the - I’ll be in there in a bit,” Pepper said. She locked the trap door behind Maya. She didn’t know how they found them. She hadn’t used her card since Fresno. She had an inkling.

 

“They will be at the cabin in moments, Miss Potts,” JARVIS warned from the holotable.

 

“I got it, J,” Pepper said as she pulled a jacket around herself and headed out to the car. She turned it on.

 

“Are we escaping and leaving Miss Hansen in the basement?” JARVIS asked.

 

“What? No,” Pepper said. “I need to program in a route. Once the cars pull up - this one speeds off. Hopefully, they’ll think we’re in here and will chase after it, giving Maya and I enough time  to escape on foot.”

 

“Through the Oregon woods in late December?” JARVIS asked.

 

“Got a better suggestion?” Pepper asked.

 

“Unfortunately, I do not, ma’am,” JARVIS said. “Route calibrated.”

 

“I’ll activate the car from the home console,” Pepper said, rushing back inside. She dragged the holotable to the window and sat on her knees with Howard’s hunting rifle in her hands. She watched as the cars came up the driveway. Closer. Closer. She pressed the console. The vehicle jolted and took off, speeding down the lane. The three cars followed it, engines revving as they shot back down in the snow. Pepper breathed a sigh of relief. Then her whole body clenched in a sudden wave of panic.

 

JARVIS had said there were four cars.

 

Just as she realized this, the back door was kicked open, and the wind howled inside. Pepper whipped around, pointed the gun at the intruder, and let it fire. Aldrich Killian’s shoulder was wrenched backward with the force of the bullet. He groaned and cracked his neck, rotating his shoulder as a strange orange glow filled his veins. His shirt began to smolder. This must be the healing factor Maya referenced in Extremis. Pepper tried to get off a second shot, but her hands were starting to shake. She managed to pull back the hammer and press down on the  trigger just as Killian made his way across the cabin and wrenched the gun from her. He grabbed her throat, and she slid up the wall. Feet kicking helplessly.

 

“That wasn’t very nice,” He said. His eyes were burning orange. Her throat was feeling so hot it went numb. “But you’re scared. I get it. I’m sorry.” He dropped her. She collapsed on the ground, gasping for air, her throat was on fire. It was possible that he had actually burned her. Her neck was covered in prickles of pain.

 

“Where’s Dr. Hansen?” Killian asked.

 

“We split up,” Pepper lied. “After your boys went after us - I thought she was bugged. Or a traitor.”

 

“Where did she go?” Killian asked.

 

“Hell if I know,” Pepper said. “How’d you find me?”

 

“I put a tracker in your car when I went to Stark Industries,” Killian said.

 

Pepper was surprised. “How much of this was premeditated?”

 

“Most of it,” Killian smiled. “I need to show you Extremis, Pepper. I need to show you what I’ve done for you.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Toni sat down beside Mrs. Davis, a woman who had taken to drinking after her husband blew himself up, and now was starting to develop the jaundice to prove it.

 

“Is this seat taken?” She asked, gripping the back of the chair.

 

Mrs. Davis shrugged, “It’s a free country.”

 

Toni sat down and leaned across the table, “Mrs. Davis, I am very sorry about your husband.”

 

“I don’t want to hear it,” The woman said. She pulled a manila folder out of her bag and slid it across the table toward Toni. “Here’s the file you wanted.” Toni realized that someone was in Rose Hill, Tennessee to see Mrs. Davis and that person wasn’t her. She clasped her hands over the file.

 

“Mrs. Davis, I know you think that he killed himself and that he intended to hurt others, but I assure you, that wasn’t the case, and I promise you, I am going to get to the bottom of this.”

 

Mrs. Davis squinted over at Toni, “You’re not the lady that called me after all, are you?”

 

“Actually, I am,” A woman said, slamming a badge down on the table. Toni looked up at her. Short red hair, frayed bangs, and a burn on one half of her face. She grabbed Toni’s arm and wrenched it behind her back, pressing her face down onto the table as she handcuffed her. Toni got a really good look at her badge. This lady was a fake.

 

“Hey, hey, hey!” A man said. “What’s all this about? What the hell is going on here?”

 

“It’s called an arrest,” The woman said. Toni’s hands were restrained, so she threw her backward onto the floor. Toni’s head hit the ground, and her teeth rattled. “Sheriff, is it?”

 

“Yes ma’am, it is, and you are?”

 

“Homeland Security,” The woman held up her badge. “We good here?” Toni pressed her back up against the wall, planted her feet firmly on the ground, and pushed her hands under her ass. Now her arms felt like they were going to be wrenched out of their sockets as she lowered herself to the ground. She pulled her knees to her chest and slowly shuffled her hands up her thighs until they caught at the bend of the knee. She rolled forward and continued to shimmy her hands over her legs until they were now clasped in her front.

 

“No we’re not ‘good,’” The sheriff said. “I’m gonna need a little more information than that.”

 

Toni looked up at Mrs. Davis who was squinting at her again, having seen her wrestle out of the handcuffs. She locked her eyes on the file and bobbed her head to the pool table. Mrs. Davis understood and tossed the file across the room. It slid beneath the table, out of sight.

 

“I think it’s a little above your pay grade, Sheriff,” The woman said.

 

“Well then, why don’t you get on the horn over to, uh, Nashville and upgrade me?” The sheriff asked.

 

“She’s not Homeland Security!” Toni exclaimed from where she sat on the floor. “Look at her badge - it’s a good fake. Except in August, all U.S. Intelligence and Security Agencies redid their Personal Identity Verification System and issued new information and serials, but hers is dated by about two years.”

 

“Don’t listen to her, she’s a terrorist,” The woman said.

 

The sheriff looked at her with dawning realization and pulled out his gun, training it on her, “Hands above your head.”

 

“You’re a pain in my ass,” The woman said to Toni. As she did so, her eyes started to glow orange. So did her hand, where the fake badge was gleaming. She flung the badge in the sheriff’s face, grabbed his gun, and shot him twice. Toni saw her chance as soon as the woman looked back at the Sheriff, and she ran. She ducked along the wall and out of the bar.

 

“Hey, hot wings, you wanna party?” She called back into the bar as she jogged across the street. “Come on, you and me, let’s go.”

 

She ran down the street and stopped when she saw a man getting out of a car. He had a cup of coffee, was munching on a donut, and had the same orange glow in his eyes and beneath his flesh. He lifted his gun, Toni ran the other way, ducking as a shot went off and taking cover behind a car. A man was lying in the gutter, taking cover.

 

“Crazy, huh?” He asked him.

 

“Yep,” He nodded.

 

She looked up at the window in front of her, “Watch this.” She ran hard toward the window and twisted her body moments before impact, the window shattered behind her, and she fell on her back in a pile of broken glass. She stood up in time to see the woman pointing a shotgun at her from across the street. She leaped into the air and behind the counter of the diner she was in just in time for the bullet to shatter a shelf of glasses above her head. Toni pressed her back behind the counter, looking left and right in fear of where the woman would come from. 

 

She heard something directly overhead and looked up. The woman was perched on the counter, looking down at Toni with a cruel smile. Toni pulled herself to one side, but the woman  flipped over the bar and picked Toni up by the lapels of her jacket, slamming her into a wall and elbowing her across the face. Toni gasped in pain and slid to one side. The woman grabbed Toni again by the lapels. Toni brought her hands up and down again, her arms now resting on the woman’s shoulders. She took a fistful of her hair and wrenched down as hard as she could, pulling the woman into the wall behind her. The woman’s nose cracked as it hit the wall. She groaned with fury. Toni pulled her by her hair in a full circle, jumping off the counter and launching over the window into the kitchen, pulling the chain of the handcuffs as taut as she could against the woman’s throat. She gagged, and her neck glowed a brilliant orange. Toni felt the cuffs starting to burn against her skin, and with a pull, they snapped off, Toni falling backward into the kitchen. She shook them off.

 

Beside her was a gallon of cooking oil. She unscrewed the cap, tossed the container to its side, and pushed it into the doorway. She kicked one of the burning handcuffs into the trail of oil, and it lit up, the entryway was a wall of fire. That would buy her some time. She undid the nozzles of the gas burners and chucked several spoons into the microwave, ready to activate it. The woman burst through the door, fire streaming off of her body, her clothes turning to ash on her frame.

 

“You’ve walked right into this one, I’ve dated hotter chicks than you,” Toni said.

 

“That’s all you’ve got?” The woman asked. She didn’t look human anymore. Her skin was a mottled and orange as if it was starting to melt off her face. Her hair was singing where it touched her face, and her eyes were a furious orange. “A cheap trick and a cheesy one-liner?”

 

Toni turned on the microwave, “Sweetheart, that could be the name of my autobiography,” She sprinted out of the diner, and down the back alley. She saw an ice chest. Perfect. She opened the door and jumped into it, sitting on top of the bags of ice. She stuck one foot in the door, so it wouldn’t lock on her. The explosion followed maybe two seconds later, and it was massive. The brick wall blasted into the opposite building, and debris shot up into the telephone wires above them. Once the fire had cleared, Toni kicked the door open and jumped out. She looked up at the telephone wires, which were sparking around the broken, twisted corpse of the not-homeland security woman.

 

She, however, had not earned even a moment of reprieve. A metallic groaning noise turned her attention to the Rose Hill water tower, where one of the legs was glowing orange and buckling. The other one - the man - was trying to draw her out. It looked like it was going to work. Toni headed over to the water tower. She realized the man’s plan when his eyes lit up when he saw her. He pulled on the leg of the water tower, and the entire thing started to drop on Toni. Toni, however, knew physics. Instead of trying to outrun the water tower as it fell toward her, she escaped its path by running to the left. The good thing about having bones made out of titanium and muscle made out of carbon fiber from the knee below was that she could run far faster than the average human. The water tower crashed behind her, debris flying everywhere as gallons of freezing water splashed through the streets of Rose Hill. Out of the wreckage, the man responsible came out, holding a small, flailing child. Harley.

 

“Let the kid go!” She called. “Did you see what I did to your friend?”

 

“Brandt was an idiot. Anyway,” the man said, holding Harley to his chest. His eyes were glowing orange, “Hey, kid, what would you like for Christmas?”

 

“Miss Stark I am so sorry!” Harley exclaimed.

 

“No - no - no - no,” The man said. “I think he was trying to say, I want my goddamn file.”

 

“It’s not your fault, kid,” Toni told Harley. She looked at him as meaningfully as she could, “Remember what I told you about bullies?”

 

His eyes went wide with realization as he picked the flashbang out of his jacket and pointed it right in the man’s face. There was a loud pop and a flash of light, and Harley sprinted away as the man fell backward, grabbing at his face. Toni saw a jagged pile of debris behind him, and her only thought was that this asshole threatened to kill a kid, so she charged at him, slamming him with all her force back into the pile of debris. When she backed away, a piece of rebar was sticking out of his abdomen, probably more things embedded in his back, and he looked up at her with a surprised expression. She leaned over him slowly and took the car keys and his phone from his pocket.

 

“Catch me if you can,” She said, winking before walking away. She swung by the bar and retrieved the file before heading to where the man had parked his car.

 

“You’re welcome,” Harley said, walking over swaddled in a blanket with a cowboy hat on his head. He must have been checked over by the authorities.

 

“For what? Did I miss something?” Toni asked.

 

“Me saving  _ your _ ass,” Harley said, punching her in the elbow.

 

“Okay. A - I saved you first. B - Thanks, sort of. And C - You’re a kid. So when you see stuff like this, you gotta run the other way.”

 

“You’re telling me to run away?” Harley asked. “But you said about bullies-”

 

“I did,” Toni said. “But kid bullies and adult bullies are very different. That guy was going to kill you, kid. Let the adult handle the adult bully.” She finally reached the car and turned to look at him. 

 

“So that’s it?” Harley asked. “Come on - face it. You need me, we’re connected.”

 

“I don’t want you putting yourself in danger when you could’ve avoided it. I’m going to Oregon, alright?” she took the cowboy hat off his head. “I’m trusting the suit with you until it’s fully charged. So, stay connected to the telephone because when I call you I’m gonna need you to pick up.” She searched his face. It seemed he understood. “Alright, you feel that? We’re done here.” She clapped him on the shoulder “Now get out of the way, I don’t want to run you over,” She said as she slipped into the car. He stepped closer, peering into the window with a sad expression. She rolled the window down. “Look, I’m sorry, kid. You did good.”

 

“So now you’re just gonna leave me here? Like my dad?” He asked, pouting up at her with large eyes.

 

“Yeah,” She said. She blinked up at him. “Wait - you’re guilt-tripping me, aren’t you?”

 

“I’m cold,” He said pathetically, burrowing further into his jacket. Definitely guilt-tripping her.

 

“I can tell,” Toni said in a tearful voice, “You know how I can tell? Because we’re connected,” She grinned as she drove off.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading.
> 
> Hey, you guys want me to actually _make_ Toni's Wedding Pinterest? Let me know!
> 
> As always, your feedback is appreciated in its many forms, and I will forever love talking to you, so don't hesitate to leave a comment!
> 
> Until the next chapter!


	7. Captive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, everyone. Thank you for your support.
> 
> Just a warning about this chapter, there is some nonconsensual human experimentation and medical practices that happen. I did my best to present the circumstances as respectfully as I could, and I don't think they're too graphic, but I just wanted to let you all know.
> 
> Anyway, thank you again, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

 

She made sure she was a couple miles west of Rose Hill before her overwhelming desire to look at the file that those people had come here fore. Were they part of Killian-slash-the-Mandarin’s agency, fronted by the AIM think tank? How deep did this Extremis program get? She pulled off to the shoulder of the road and picked up the file, starting to thumb through the papers. She found a memo buried deep between medical records the AIM logo in the top corner. So they were coming to clear up loose ends, it seemed. If they were willing to kill for this file, Toni didn’t want to imagine what they had planned for Maya Hansen, and, by proxy, Pepper. They needed protection. Toni was in Tennessee, he wouldn’t like it, but there was one person she could call. She used the phone she stole off the AIM man to call Rhodey.

When he picked up, she said, “Hey, so have you ever been out drinking and then the lady you’re talking to is just, suddenly, on fire?”

“Yeah, I’ve had that happen,” he said sarcastically. “Who is this?”

“Your favorite lesbian,” Toni said.

“Ellen DeGeneres?”

“Screw you,” Toni laughed “Sorry I haven’t called sooner, it’s been a long day. So, look, your big design redo, the whole military design redo, that was AIM, right?”

“Yeah,” Rhodey said.

“Dammit,” she said. “They’re probably tracking you.”

“Sorry?” Rhodey asked.

“Okay, so, big spoilers, but the Mandarin is fake,” she said. “Happy got blown up tailing the bodyguard of Aldrich Killian, and it turns out Killian’s new biotech project has exothermic instability which has been causing explosions, so they faked a terrorist to keep - and actually accelerate - their military funding. Once upon a time, I slept with the scientist, Hansen, who gave her biotech, Extremis, to AIM. So Pep and I invited her over, my house got blown up, and Pep took her to the woods. But, uh, I was just attacked by AIM, and they’re really pissy, so I need someone to keep an eye on Pep until I can help. But, uh, if AIM redid your suit, you’re compromised, buddy. Unless I can hack into the military. Wouldn’t be that hard, I’d just need a heavy-duty commsat, what’s your login?”

“The same as it’s always been - warmachine68.”

“And your password, please?”

“Well, hey, look, I gotta change it every time you hack in.”

“Okay, let’s put it in perspective: Exploding terrorists or you resetting your password.”

“WARMACHINEROX  - with an x, all caps.”

Toni burst out laughing, “That is so much better than Iron Patriot.”

 

* * *

 

Chattanooga, Tennessee was hosting a Christmas pageant, plenty of media, and plenty of comsats. Toni had conflicting feelings about beauty pageants, especially the bathing suit portion. As a feminist, she criticized them, but as a lesbian, she was delighted by them. She parked the car and slipped the cowboy hat low over her eyes, she hefted some cables around, so she looked like she belonged and went to the circus that was the media vans. She paced through the rows of trailers until she saw a man get out of his van, angrily talking into the phone. She slipped inside after him, switched the input channel to the satellite, and started evaluating the connection speed of the comsat. “That ain’t gonna cut it,” She whispered to herself as it was only clocking in at about 9.2 megabytes per second. 

The door opened behind her, the man on the phone returned.

“Excuse me, miss, I don’t know who-” Toni swiveled the chair dramatically, a finger pressed to her lips. His jaw dropped and his eyes when wide in glee. She smiled.

“Mom, I need to call you back, something _magical_ is happening,” he said before hanging up. “Toni Stark is in my van - Toni Stark is in my van!” He took off his sunglasses - a replica of one of her favorite pairs - in awe.

“Shush, no she isn’t,” Toni said, worrying that he would draw a crowd.

“I knew you were still alive!”

“Come on, be quiet,” She whispered, beckoning him inside. He awkwardly scrambled into the van and shut it behind him, she was shushing at him all the while.

“Can I just say, ma’am-” he mimed his head exploding, “I am your biggest fan.”

“Well, thank you, I appreciate that,” Toni said. “Just a couple of questions - is this just your van or is anybody else coming in?”

“No - no - no, just us,” he shook his head.

She stood up and offered him her hand, “What’s your name?”

“Gary,” He said, shaking her hand.

“Gary,” She tried to pull her hand out of his grasp, but this handshake was a lingering one. She had to continue to give herself a pep-talk. Men are annoying, but terrorists are worse. Men are annoying, but Pepper is better.

“I don’t know if you can tell,” Gary said, “But my whole look is kind of inspired by you,” He motioned at the gold watch on his wrist and his sunglasses. He took off his hat to show off his hair, which was cut in her favorite messy rocker chic. Toni Stark: Making straight men look like lesbians since 2008, it seemed. “My hair isn’t perfect because I don’t know what product you use, but-” 

“Okay, put the hat back on,” She said.

“I don’t want to make things, awkward for you,” he said, raising his hands defensively.

“Really?” She asked.

“But, uh, I do want to show you - BOOM!” he pulled up his sleeve to show a line art drawing of her tattooed onto his forearm.

“Is that Elijah Wood wearing lipstick - oh - is that supposed to be me?”

“Yeah,” he said, smiling. “Well, I, I had them do it off of a doll that I made, so it’s not like it’s from a picture-” She was going to pretend that this man did not have a doll version of her for the sake of this mission.

“Gary, Baby,” she said, gripping him by the upper arms, He looked like he was about to cream himself just from that. “We’re both a bit excited right now, but I need your help. I need to hack the military, alter some tracking settings, decrypt some data files. But I don’t have enough juice. I need you to go up on the roof - okay? Recalibrate the ISDN and pump it up by about forty percent. Okay, baby? Toni needs Gary.”

“And Gary needs T-”

“To be quiet about it,” Toni said.

“R-right, yeah.” She looked at the door expectantly. “Right - yeah!” He repeated, dashing out of the van. She heard the footfall of him scrambling up the roof. He messed with the satellite for a few minutes, before tapping on the roof. Toni tapped back and got to work. 

 

The first thing she did was scramble her IP address, and then she logged into Rhodey’s NSC account. Once she was in his account, she was able to take down every firewall on the server and access AIM’s NSC account and all the research for the government and their think tank. There were two public AIM folders and one private folder. She, of course, went to the private folder. She scanned the folders within the folder: Active signals, biochem development, calculations, candidate interviews, datasets, project overview, raw data, research and development, technologies bio and technologies chem. Candidate interviews were in the most massive folder, so she clicked on it. At the top of the list of files was the interview of Chad Davis. She clicked on it and watched a bit, shaking her head and the man who would later be killed by this project. She went down. Ellen Brandt - the woman she blew up in Rose Hill - before the experiment was missing a limb and had her face scarred with burns. The camera switched, she was being interviewed by Killian. He still had his long hair and a scruffy beard. She filtered all the folders for video and found an injection test. “You are the next iteration of human evolution,” Killian told the group. 

 

Toni switched videos to the actual injection procedure. She watched as they marched the vets and amputees into a dark, dirty lab. They were strapped upright to tables and injected with a fluid while also having a bag of liquid and nutrients to sustain them throughout the process. When Ellen Brandt was pumped with the fluid, there was a time lapse of her writhing in pain as her arm slowly regrew like molten flesh dripping and forming into deeply cracked skin, which cooled and hardened into an indistinguishably human arm. All the while, there was fire in her eyes and beneath her skin. She watched as one of the candidates was seizing on the table, the heat in his bones and his veins going from orange to deep red as the light began to glow out of his eyes and mouth. They evacuated the lab just in time for a massive explosion to take down the cameras. She sighed. She had gotten off track. She had yet to reset Rhodey. She went over to active signals. The map that pulled up had about a half-dozen little blips on it. Five of them were in the United States. Three in Florida, one in Washington D.C., and one in Oregon. Shit - Oregon. She found the sixth one, a little blip in the Middle East, and started to alter the signal. If she bounced through a couple of satellites, she should be able to enter the system and begin to bunk the signal. Just a few more measures, and-

The signal cut out, but Toni hadn’t activated her program yet. That was bad. That was very bad. She immediately called his suit, and it went dead immediately. How did - they had to have gotten him. They’re in the final stages of whatever they’re planning, cleaning up loose ends, taking our her friends. Pepper - the tracker in Oregon was still active. Toni dialed JARVIS and entered the code that put her in the server.

"JARVIS, it's me," she said.

“Ma’am!” JARVIS exclaimed. “I’ve been trying to reach your suit.”

“She’s still down for the count, what’s going on, is Pepper-”

“Miss Potts has been taken by Aldrich Killian,” JARVIS said. “He broke into the cabin property. Miss Potts hid Doctor Hansen in the basement and attempted to trick the team he came with into leaving. She did not succeed.”

Rhodey was gone. Pepper was gone. AIM - Killian - he had them both. Toni was trying to not have a panic attack in the back of Gary’s van. “And Hansen?”

“She is locked in the basement, ma’am,” JARVIS said. “There are sufficient supplies in the bunker, she should survive six months without intervention.”

 

Toni contemplated it, after all, Maya was a huge player of this mess. Maybe a time out would be good for her. But Toni needed at the help she could get, unfortunately. She didn't want to, but maybe it was time to ask for help.

“Can you call Nat?” Toni asked. “Fill them in - give ‘em Maya’s location.”

“Wouldn’t you rather call Agent Romanoff, ma’am?”

Calling Nat would mean explaining every messed up thing that happened in the last few days that led to this mess, and Toni was not ready to get all sappy and talk about her feelings, especially to someone like Nat.

 

“I got shit to do, JARVIS.”

 

* * *

 

Pepper had been chained up like an animal, a black bag over her face so she couldn’t see anything. She listened as best she could. She could tell based on the way the van she was in bounced when they left the dirt path of the woods, and when they hit the highway, and when they merged off the highway, and when they went to an airport. She was transferred to a private plane. She counted the minutes in her head as the flew, two hours and twenty minutes in total before they landed. There wasn’t a lot of rotating, so she doubted they had gone in circles to confuse her. The radius in her mind told her from Oregon she could be as far North as Canada or as far South as California. If they had gone East, she wasn’t further than Wyoming. Apparently, they hadn't gone West, or else they would be in the middle of the ocean. When she stepped out into a mildly chilly night, she knew they had to be in California. There was no way that Wyoming or Canada was this warm in December. They took her to another car, and then she continued to drive. The smell of fish that assaulted her senses told her that they were near the coast, probably some large docks. She was removed again and marched up a ramp onto a slightly swaying building, a ship. The ship never seemed to leave the harbor, however, as it barely rocked the entire time she was on it.

She was taken to a room, uncuffed, the bag was removed, and she was pushed inside, the door locking behind her. She fell to her knees from the force of the push and squeezed her eyes shut, the bright light of the room was burning into her retinas. Slowly, she blinked until the light became tolerable and the room was into focus. It looked like some sort of barrack, with a narrow bunk cot against one wall and very bright fluorescent lights overhead. Sitting on the bottom bed was a box. Pepper stood up and slowly approached the box, lifting the lid. It seemed that it was holding some type of garment. She pulled out the two items inside, a black sports bra and dark yoga pants. They were made out of an unusually thick and hard material, but they seemed elastic. She set them back in the box. She refused to change. She tossed the box out of the cot, laid down on the thin mattress, and closed her eyes, trying to sleep. It was the only sort of rebellion Pepper could think of.

When she woke up, it was because someone had grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to the floor. Two people in yellow hazmat suits were in the room.

“You have five minutes to change, or we’ll do it ourselves,” One of the people said, the voice seemed masculine, but everything was muffled through the hazmat suits. They slammed the door behind them. Pepper sighed, and with her back turned to the door, she slowly stripped out of her pajamas and put on this weird, revealing garment. As promised, they returned. Each one grabbed her by the arm, one shoved a bag over her head again, and she was marched through the corridors of the ship, and up a rickety external staricase. When the bag was removed from her head, she was in a lab. There were computer monitors and consoles on the walls, and some sort of apparatus in the middle of the room. It was a slightly inclined vertical board with a harness and heavy metal restraints. There were two people in similar yellow hazmat suits, watching the computer, turning their heads toward Pepper. She couldn’t see their expressions.

“Is this your sex dungeon?” She asked loudly as she was carried toward the apparatus. She was forced against the board, the harness and restraints were bolted around her, so she couldn’t move her arms, legs, or chest. “Can we have a safeword, please?” Pepper asked.

One of the hazmat agents left the room, while the other forced a needle into Pepper’s arm and linked it to a bag of clear fluids beside her head. A second tube was placed in her opposite arm, this one was linked to a slightly milky bag of fluid. The hazmat technician who left returned with a dark, plastic case and a tripod. The case was set on the floor. Together, they set the tripod up, camera pointing at Pepper.

“I can’t believe the boss wants her to have the advanced procedure,” he said to his buddy. “It’s for stabilizing mass regenerative effects like his therapy, and she’s fine.”

“She’s not disposable?” His coworker asked, surprised.

“Opposite, he’d be distraught if she went unstable,” The other replied. “Same protocols as his therapy.”

“Lucky girl,” The second said. 

“Yeah, but we’re in a rut now because he axed Hansen.” Pepper hoped that the man was wrong and Maya was still alive in her basement.

The black briefcase was laid out on the table beside her milky bag of fluid. They picked up one huge syringe that had a strange metallic gleam to the dosage inside it.

“Commencing injection,” he said, placing the needle into her IV line and plunging it. The second one activated the milky drip. The immediate sensation was burning. It spread from the veins in her arm to her chest, and then throughout her entire body. The burning was deep and intense, and somehow it slowly escalated until Pepper was writhing against the restraints, forcing down a scream, biting the inside of her cheeks to stop from wailing. She forced out pained heaves instead, trying to get through the pain as it continued, every piece of tissue in her body felt inflamed, like every childhood fever she had ever had, and times a thousand. The pain reached its climax, sweat was pouring down her body, she shook and ached as the burning was reduced to a faint tingling sensation beneath her skin. It was the electric buzz when a foot goes to sleep, but it was everywhere.

“How’s she doing?”

“We see rapid stability,” one of the other hazmat technicians replied. “Her vitals were better than test-one for the advanced procedure. And Mr. Killian turned out alright, so she’s above the baseline.”

“Scans - what regeneration are we seeing?”

“Mild progress,” A second said. “Recent superficial damage including the documented abrasions and burns is mostly repaired, tissue growth has been stimulated. Her stability may be better because of how little needs to be improved.”

“The regenerative state has been effective, in summary,” One said. “We should commence to the next stages.”

“Shouldn’t we give her some time to cool off?” Another asked, having the decency to sound sympathetic from Pepper’s pain.

“Hansen’s notes don’t have a cooldown time, and I don’t want to add any variables when so much is riding on her success, injecting the second dosage.”

“But Hansen developed the injection course over thirteen years, surely there was time in between the procedures.”

“Her notes also say that, ideally, all the injections happen in a short time frame to improve system stability and positive regenerative effects. We don’t cool down.”

Once they plunged a second syringe into her I.V. line, the scalding pain returned. And somehow, this time, it was worse.

 

* * *

Toni knew three things. First, Aldrich Killian was a slimy son of a bitch. Second, he had Pepper, Rhodey, and some form of sway in the government. Third, she was the only person who was going to be able to stop him in the near future. She checked in with Harley, the suit was minimally operational now, and JARVIS was able to return to the operating system. Toni had a location in Miami, the address of the headquarters for AIM that Maya had mentioned. JARVIS also reported that a begrudging Agent Romanoff agreed to go to the cabin and retrieve Maya Hansen, and an excited Agent Barton was with them. Toni’s suit would not be operational for at least another forty hours, but Rhodey and Pepper didn’t have that long, Toni believed. So, Toni decided that it was time to go to one of the most useful places she knew: Home Depot.

 

Something was reassuring about the smell of sawdust and oil as she walked in through the glass sliding doors of the Home Depot in midtown Atlanta minutes after it opened at eight in the morning. She had a hoodie on to reduce the likelihood of recognition, and a massive wad of cash she had retrieved from an ATM. She was a little high with the enthusiasm she was tossing things into her cart, and once her cart had overfilled, she grabbed a second one and started filling it up as well. She didn’t even have any complete schematics in her head, just a jumbled collection of half-finished ideas and jolts of inspiration that led her to grab something and stick it in her cart. She tried her best not to seem suspicious as the cashier quickly scanned her piles of supplies, and she tried to offer a weak smile when she paid in cash. 

After filling the trunk of the car and the backseat with her bags upon bags of supplies, she continued her drive south on the I-85 to Miami. It was six in the evening when she arrived in Miami. She checked into a motel by the Miami International Airport and worked through the night. She even managed to get a few hours of sleep before sunrise, and was back in the car as soon as quickly as possible, heading toward Aldrich Killian’s Spanish-style mansion

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, Toni's on the warpath now that Killian has Pepper and Rhodey.
> 
> Thank you again for your support. As always, your feedback is appreciated, and I love talking to you all, so don't hesitate to leave a comment!
> 
> Until the next one! :)


	8. Warpath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, everyone!
> 
> I hope you like this chapter because it includes the most significant departure from canon yet in this storyline. But I felt like it was an incredibly reasonable change.
> 
> Thank you for your support!

 

Initially, Nat Romanoff’s plan for the holidays was a bottle of vodka and a Star Wars marathon. Then, Claire practically begged them to come with her to Barney’s farm in Iowa for Christmas and finally meet the family. Claire didn’t want to spend a holiday with Laura and Barney worrying over her after a megalomaniacal alien brainwashed her, and Nat sympathized, even though Nat was not eager to spend all that time with Barney and Laura and their pestering, personal questions which invaded Nat’s privacy. Like “where are you from?” or “what’s your favorite Christmas movie?” or “are you a vegetarian?” Questions which they had no business knowing the answer. But Nat had to be there for Claire.

The call from Toni Stark’s AI, JARVIS, came as a surprise. They had seen the mansion blow up on the television. Fury told them everything was fine. And the Toni Stark’s AI called Nat and explained how things were very much not fine. And then Nat called Fury and learned that S.H.I.E.L.D. had been one of nine agencies to be hacked by the Mandarin and they had done a complete shutdown of the main facilities to find out how he got in. It was embarrassing for Fury to know that Toni Stark had figured out why the Mandarin was and the sources of the explosions in two days in her basement when the government had been working on this for months. Pepper was kidnapped as well, according to JARVIS, and Nat was fond of Pepper. So, of course, Nat decided to help. And Claire, eager to spend some time away from her worrying family, went with.

They landed in Portland twelve hours after JARVIS called them, and took a rental car south to the Oregon woods. JARVIS had sent them the coordinates to the cabin in the woods.

“Good place for a safe house,” Claire said as they bounced along a dirt road. “Cliche, sure.”

“Not good enough,” Nat said. “Able to figure anything else out about this Hansen chick?”

“Biochemistry and genetics at UCLA,” Claire said. “Ph.D. Made some good strides in her postgraduate studies. Landed a spot at the conference in Bern. Swept up by Killian’s think tank, AIM. Helped him build Extremis to its weaponizability we’ve seen. Classic case of a mad scientist.”

“Repenting mad scientist,” Nat said. “At least according to Stark’s robot.”

“She’ll have been locked in the dark for about fourteen hours in a nuclear bomb shelter,” Claire said.

“Yeah,” Nat nodded. “So? That sounds like a fun weekend.”

“For you. For a normal person, it’s traumatic. So… try to be nice.”

“Be  _ nice _ ?” Nat asked. “I’m nice!”

“No,” Claire said. “You’re… you’re not nice.”

“Well, she’s contributed to a lot of deaths.”

“Mhmm, yeah, remind me what you do for a living?” Claire asked.

Nat rolled their eyes, “Are you seriously gonna do a welcome wagon on this girl?”

“She’s smart,” Claire said. “And she’s lost her way. The perfect combination for S.H.I.E.L.D.”

“She’s betrayed Killian for her life. She lacks loyalty. She could be a liability,” Nat observed.

“Lacking loyalty to a murderous sociopath isn’t exactly a vice,” Claire said. “We’d offer her protection. Legal and physical.”

“Let’s not forget somehow this think tank has the power and resources to hack nine government agencies and blow up Toni Stark,” Nat said. “We’re still not sure where she was on the totem pole.”

“And we’ll figure it out,” Claire said.

They pulled up at the front gates of Stark’s cabin. The gates were melted down.

“How ominous,” Nat said, heading up the driveway. They stepped out of the car. “I want to look around before we free Hansen.”

“Fine,” Claire said, getting out as well. “But be quick. She’ll hear us stomping around.”

They went inside. In the middle of the living room was a holotable. By the window to the driveway, there was a discarded hunting rifle. The back door was open, a splatter of blood behind it.

“Guy came in through the back door, Pepper got him in the subclavian - ow - and somehow he regenerated before she got off the second shot and took the gun from her,” Nat said. “Holotable looks like Stark Tech.”

“Very good, Agent Romanoff,” The holotable said.

“Oh, JARVIS,” Nat greeted “Where’s Hansen?”

 

“In the master bedroom, beneath the rug, there should be a floor entrance to the fallout shelter,” JARVIS explained.

“Thanks.” Nat and Claire headed to the master bedroom. Pepper’s day clothing was set on the dresser, folded neatly. The bed, however, looked like she had gotten out of it in a hurry. There was a little blue box on the floor and a purse on the bedside table.

“Aw,” Claire said, bending over and opening the box. “Potts was gonna propose to Stark.”

“Hopefully, she’ll still get to,” Nat said, pulling back the rug. “Cover me.”

“You think Hansen’s gonna come out guns blazing?” Claire asked, amused, but still unholstering a gun at her hip.

“Is it bad to be cautious?” Nat asked. They unlocked the trap door, and it banged open, Maya Hansen scrambled into the light, looking up at them with wide eyes. “Uh, hi!” Nat called. “I’m, uh, Toni called me.”

“I thought I was gonna die down there,” Hansen said. “Is Pepper-”

“Killian has her,” Nat said. “You wanna come out?”

“Who are you?” Hansen asked suspiciously.

“We’re the Avengers!” Claire said.

Nat elbowed her. “We’re with S.H.I.E.L.D.”

“And friends of Toni’s and Pepper’s,” Claire added.

“You’re her assassin friend,” Maya said with dawning realization.

“Yeah, sure,” Nat said. “Look, we have to get a move on.”

“You have to help Pepper,” Maya said as she climbed out of the basement.

“Toni Stark is on the warpath, Pepper should be fine,” Nat said. “I’d always put my money on those two.”

“You don’t understand,” Maya said. “Killian loves her.”

“She’s gay,” Claire blinked.

“He doesn’t care,” Maya said. “He’s been obsessed with her for ages.”

“If he’s obsessed with her, she’s safe,” Nat said. “People don’t hurt the objects of their affection unless they reject their advances, Pepper’s not that stupid, she’ll know to play along until Toni can come.”

“No - he - he’s crazy,” Maya said. “He thinks he’s a - he thinks he’s the Adam on the next generation of human evolution through Extremis. The versions we gave him - his therapy course was unique. Most Extremis subjects received one or two injections to improve their regenerative abilities and maintain nominal stability. He received eighteen. The mutations were - they were even beyond my understanding. What was once an exothermic reaction not only stabilized, it became enhanced. The biological effects were - I didn’t even know the full extent. And he… I think he wants Pepper to be his Eve.”

Nat and Claire shared a significant glance.

“What’s going on?” Maya asked.

“Okay, his mansion in Miami, is that the only facility for the think tank terrorists?” Claire asked.

“I - I don’t know. He stopped telling me things. He’s been… the more I injected him, the crazier he got. The more narcissistic, the more sociopathic-”

“Do you think it’s because of Extremis?” Claire asked

“The - no,” Maya said. “I worried about that. There is a - an aggression factor that came into play, but we rectified it on his seventh injection. I think - I think for a man who grew up with a physical disability, the power of his enhancements went to his head.”

“Enhancements go to people’s heads without a chronic disability in the beginning,” Nat said. The list in their head was immediate. Blonsky, most notably. “How do you know he wants to inject Pepper?”

“Because he asked me to make sure I had an eighteen-injection round ready and then he went out to Los Angeles to talk to Pepper Potts.”

“Did he bring the rounds with him?” Nat asked.

“Why does that matter?” Maya asked.

“Yes or no, Doctor Hansen,” Nat said.

“I - I think so,” Maya nodded.

“Dammit,” Nat said. “Stark’s in the wrong place.”

 

* * *

 

 

Toni was perched in a cottonwood tree outside Aldrich Killian’s mansion. She had ditched the car half a mile back and gotten to the perimeter unnoticed. Through her binoculars, she could count multiple guards doing rounds of the boundary, one with a dog. She timed the dogs' rounds and decided she would make a run for it when it was halfway through its round, and hopefully on the other end of the perimeter. When the coast was clear, she ran up the side of the stone and stucco wall. She managed to get enough momentum to catch her forearms on the top of the wall before she dropped down, and she pushed off, vaulting up and over, and landing in the grass below. She ran along the dog’s path, trying to keep as much distance as she could. There was a guard between her and the side stairwell, but he wasn’t looking in her direction. She stayed to one side, hands skidding over the wall. She kicked off of it and launched toward him, jamming an electrified prong modified out of nails and batteries into his back. The makeshift taser stayed in, and he seized and dropped on the ground. 

She continued to the side stairwell, crouching low, beneath the rails, as she headed up the curve. There were two men at the top of the stairs. She spun a cord weighted with washers and tossed it at the nearest one. It twisted around his ankle, and she pulled him down the stairs onto his face. As she emerged, she shot the second one in the neck with a modified tranquilizer, kneed him in the gonads, and pushed him off the patio. A third man ran at her with a raised fist. She caught it beneath his arm and pressed another modified taser into his chest, pulling him to the ground as he seized and groaned. She hurried across to the entrance gates, a small garden, with a fountain and two guards. She kept her back to the wall, pulled out a flashbang, and rolled it toward them. Disguised as an ornament, one of them picked it up. The bang, flash, and shrapnel of glass blinded him and knocked him out. She pulled away from the wall and shot the second guard with multiple ball bearings from a hydraulic-powered gun. He tripped into the fountain, and she tossed a homemade grenade in the water for good measure. When she plunged the syringe, the water and red fluid reacted explosively.

When she entered the back door of the main mansion, she realized that this was a party house. Garbage was strewn on the floor. The smell of alcohol and weed was overwhelming. Several half-naked women were lying unconscious on multiple flat surfaces. She heard one low male voice and headed toward it. A woman with eyeliner smeared across her face and a nest of hair was talking to a guard. She was too hungover to warn him when Toni came over, electrified glove on his head. He seized and slumped. Toni lifted his gun off of him. The woman pointed finger guns at her and laughed. Toni continued through the house, now with a proper firearm added to her hodgepodge of supplies. She followed the mess, heading to where it was the densest, hoping that would yield something. The walls started to become covered in graffiti the deeper she went, and she realized this was probably where the Mandarin lived. He might not be the mastermind, but the man was undoubtedly cruel if he believed and said all these things on the airways. If he condoned the violence. If he was fine letting himself be heralded as the face of modern terror. She found her way into a bedroom, with something wriggling beneath the sheets of the large king bed. She pulled back the covers, gun raised and saw two scared-looking women looking up at her. She lowered the gun and tried to assure them everything was alright when the toilet to the ensuite flushed. She snuck behind the wall of the headboard as the door opened. This would be him, she knew it.

“Ew!” He said in a heavy British accent, “I wouldn’t go in there for thirty minutes!” He declared before laughing uproariously. He sat at the messy vanity.

“Now, which one of you is Vanessa?”

“That’s me,” One of the girls said.

“Ah,” He said, “Lovely! Did you know that-” he started laughing again. “Fortune cookies aren’t even Chinese.”

Everything clicked for Toni. Of course, Killian wouldn’t have picked a man that was equally cruel, that had the egotism to be seen as the face of terror. A man with an inferiority complex like Killian would have picked the most incompetent, unthreatening, disgusting man to be the face of his movement. This Mandarin was little more than pageantry, he was fine with condoning this violence and terror because he was pathetic, and he cared about little more than alcohol and beautiful women.

“There’s some lady here,” One of the models said, unperturbed.

“They made them from some - some Japanese recipe-” he continued, not even hearing her.

“Hey!” Toni exclaimed, gun raised haphazardly. If she was right, and she was, this man wasn’t much of a threat. He looked up at her, eyes wide in fear and confusion, hands raised near immediately.

“Bloody hell! Bloody hell!” The man said.

“Shut up - shut up! Just nod, yes or no,” Toni said. “You’re the Mandarin.” He nodded hesitantly. “But the Mandarin is a fake.” he nodded again. “You work for Aldrich Killian.” He nodded a third time. “You’re practically useless.”

“Oi! I’m very-”

“You’re practically useless for the functioning of AIM except for the pageantry covering up the bombings.”

“Well, I suppose.”

“Piece of shit,” She sighed. “This mansion - where are the labs?”

“Sorry?” he asked.

“The labs - this is AIM’s headquarters, the labs are somewhere, where are the labs?”

“Oh, well, there’s a lot of work in the basements. Tunnels beneath us, you know, and some other buildings further back, I think. I’m not allowed down there. You know, if you need something-”

“Who the hell even are you?” Toni asked, lowering the gun.

“Oh,” he offered her his hand. She looked at it like it was a dead fish. “Um, my name’s Trevor. Trevor Slattery.”

“Okay,” Toni said. “You didn’t see me.”

“I didn’t?” he asked, confused. Then he realized through context clues and her expression what she meant. “Oh - oh, yes, I didn’t. And, uh, they didn’t either. You’re invisible. We’re all blind. Nothing happened. Have a good day!”

Toni shook her head. She was still astounded at how useless men could be. She headed toward the door, but it swung open. A gaggle of guards poured in, and she recognized the leader of the posse, the man who she had tacked into rebar in Tennessee.

“Caught you,” He said with a smile.

 

* * *

 

Nat, Claire, and Maya were at a coffee shop in the Northwest district of Portland. Nat had a StarkLaptop on the table, hands flying across the keyboard. They had finished three cups of coffee already.

“How’s it going, Nat?” Claire asked.

“I’ve managed to get into AIM’s finances,” Nat said. “I screened and copied all twelve servers for superficial data, and now I’m designing an algorithm to track payments for real estate, supplies, or military projects in California specifically.”

“She’s amazing,” Maya said. “I thought she was an assassin.”

“And spy, espionage via technology is an essential skill in the twenty-first century. I learned how to hack in the Soviet Union before it fell, we were very good at it," they explained.

“But the Soviet Union fell when you were a kid,” Maya blinked.

“Yep,” Nat nodded. “I was seven.”

“There’s a whole tragic backstory,” Claire assured Maya. “Tell me more about Extremis.”

“What, specifically?” Maya asked.

“Why eighteen injections?”

“To provide stability, increase the efficiency of the process,” Maya said. “To perfect it. Killian was huge on perfection. And I was so close - I’ve already figured out how to stabilize it. The notes Toni gave me all those years ago were essential to my success. It’s just a matter of the synthesis process. And when I told Killian that we could finally get rid of the instability and all thermogenic effects, he said no.”

“Well, you mentioned he can breathe fire,” Claire said. “Not a lot of people would give up being able to breathe fire.”

 

“Oh damn,” Nat said. “We’re in for it.”

“What?” Claire asked.

“No realtor purchases. No supply purchases. But there was a purchase from a ship salvage company - a big one too.”

“He bought a shipwreck?” Maya asked. “What, for some underwater base?”

“No, that would be way cooler,” Nat said. “He bought a decommissioned oil liner. The salvage company got it from Roxxon. Remember the Norco? It’s docked in San Francisco.”

“Yeah, the oil spill,” Claire said. “President Ellis made sure there weren’t any consequences for the oil barons.”

“Politicians,” Nat agreed with distaste.

“Do you think,” Maya said. “That Killian may target Ellis? He’s always had the Mandarin speak to him, and he’s always hated his fervor to maintain biotech regulations.”

“Or,” Nat said. “He’s just targeting him because of the obvious power trip. Men often have little nuance.” Claire snorted. Nat closed the laptop.

 

“Where are we going?” Maya asked.

“The Norco,” Nat said. “To save Pepper.”

“I thought you wanted to let Stark deal with it?” Claire asked.

“Yeah, well, if I’m right, and I am, Stark will have more things to worry about,” Nat said. “Plus, I’m fond of Pepper. She still has her soul. I want to help save it. So, we’re going to San Francisco.”

“I - are you crazy?” Maya asked. “They could - they will try to kill us.” 

“Yeah?” Nat asked. “Your point?”

“I know this has been a rough few days for you, Dr. Hansen,” Claire said. “But people trying to kill us is basically our job.”

“I’d go up against an alien invasion over your sister-in-law any day of the week,” Nat agreed.

“Laura is very nice!” Claire protested.

“She asked me if I liked cheese on my hamburger,” Nat said. “She’s so nosy.”

Claire sighed, “Remember our conversation about normal human interaction?”

“If they’ve started the Extremis process on Pepper, I won’t be able to stop it,” Maya said. “It puts her at risk for complications if her injections aren’t completed because if they are giving her the eighteen rounds, she has the best chance of surviving and being stable at the end of the eighteen rounds,” Maya said as they walked from the coffee shop to the car.

“Then we put ourselves in the best position we can for a safe escape when she’s done,” Nat said. “And we’ll swing by our safe house in San Francisco. I need a full armory for this business.”

“Same,” Claire agreed.

“Do I get a gun?” Maya asked hopefully.

“No,” the two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents said at once.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it.
> 
> Just some final notes about this chapter:
> 
> \- Nat and Claire! I hope you all are as excited for their inclusion in these few last chapters as I am. One of the most reasonable complaints about Iron Man 3 was how nobody seemed to help, and I thought this would be the best way to rectify that. I like writing their interactions.
> 
> \- Killian is such a creep.
> 
> Thank you again! As always, your feedback is appreciated in whichever way you feel most comfortable!
> 
> Until the next chapter...


	9. Animals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you for your support.

“You know what my old man used to say to me?” Aldrich Killian asked as he walked into the dungeon where Toni was being held. She had been belted down to a wire bed frame in a large, empty basement of sorts. The only light came from the boxed and grime-caked windows high up on the walls. It really did feel like a dungeon.

 

“Nobody will ever love you?” Toni suggested.

 

He let out a wry chuckle, and then he quoted his father “One of his favorite of many sayings: ‘The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.”

 

“Is _ that _ how he explained the birds and the bees to you?” Toni asked. “No wonder you make it a habit of tying girls to beds.”

 

“Why do you make everything sexual?” Killian asked eyebrow raised.

 

“Because it makes people uncomfortable,” Toni shrugged. “You’re still not pissed out about that Switzerland thing, are you?”

 

“How can I be pissed at you, Toni?” Killian asked, walking over to her. “You gave me the greatest gift anyone has ever given me: Desperation.”

 

“Damn, Christmas at your house must have been  _ tragic _ ,” Toni quipped. “If the best gift of your life was a girl ditching your coffee date.”

 

Killian scoffed, “Well, let’s think back to Switzerland. You said you’d meet me for coffee. And for the first twenty minutes, I actually thought you’d show up. And for the next hour, I considered walking into traffic, if you know what I mean.”

 

“I know this is your whole villain speech, your motivations for evil, they’re significant to you, I’m sure,” Toni said. “I still can’t get over the fact that you basically decided to become a terrorist because I didn’t go out to coffee with you. Like… it happens, man. You get rejected. Just because I didn’t want to talk about your think tank didn’t mean you should die. These motivations are really just reasons why you need therapy.”

 

Killian tried to brush off what she said, but she could tell she had struck a nerve, “Well, when I sat there, watching people pass around me, I realized nobody knew I was there. Nobody cared I was there. I had a thought that would guide me from years to come. Anonymity, Toni, thanks to you, it’s been my mantra ever since.”

 

“See, you sound like a guy who discovered philosophy two days ago on Reddit,” Toni said. “I’m incapable of taking you seriously because honestly I just want to cry at how pathetic this is. Look at you, you funneled millions of dollars into giving yourself a new bod, and you still have the cognitively dissonant mix of entitlement and self-loathing you had thirteen years ago.” He started at her intensely for a beat, his outraged expression indicated he wanted to say something. She continued. “We all know what happened next. You had your homeboy Trevor be the Mandarin to cover up your mistakes as terrorist attacks. It made sure your funding wasn’t at risk, and actually improved it, as now the government needed to funnel money into stopping the target you fabricated, so they paid  _ you _ . Irony’s so great. What I want to know is, what’s next, Killian. When you’re the big guy, what’re you gonna do to the little ones?”

 

He smiled, finally getting a chance to talk about himself again, “Well, I wanted to repay you the selfsame gift that you so graciously imparted onto me,” 

 

He rolled three orbs into the center of the room, and they presented a crappy projection of Rhodey. Based on the strange stasis of his position, she assumed that he was stuck in his suit.

 

“We retrieved Colonel Rhodes and his Iron Patriot suit,” Killian said. “Unlocking it has been a hassle. We’ve gotten into the system, but it seems that only he can control the mechanism to open the suit. So, unless you can help us find another way, Toni, we’re going to have to start encouraging him to come out of the suit. You see, if we heat up the suit, it will be fine, but he’ll start to cook.” Killian smiled. “You know, I always thought the two of you were cute together. I was actually a little sad to hear when you broke up.” It took Toni a full second to remember that she and Rhodey had pretended to date for two years because they were both gay and needed beards for their roles as a businesswoman and Air Force Lieutenant Colonel in a "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" military. She watched Rhodey straining in the suit before the hologram cut off. “Now, we haven’t even talked salary. What perk package are you thinking of?” He grabbed her by the throat.

 

“The one where I watch your head get removed from your shoulders,” Toni hissed.

 

He pulled away and burst out laughing, “See - I knew I struck a nerve with him. I knew you guys were still a thing. Oh, this will be great,” Killian smiled. “I get to be the one who brings Iron Maiden and Iron Patriot together, get us all a happy ending. Now, tell me how to the open suit.”

 

“Well, you’re gonna need a saw-con,” Toni said.

 

“Saw-con - What?” Killian asked.

 

“Saw-con my ass,” Toni replied, smiling. He backhanded her. She barely flinched. “Baby, you don’t think I can handle a little roughing up? I survived in a cave in Afghanistan for six months, with infected wounds and a car battery hooked up to my chest. I’m not afraid to play with fire.”

 

“Well,” Killian said. “You’re not going to be the one who has to get burned,” He said with a bitter smile before heading off.

 

* * *

 

“Three rounds left,” the AIM technician said. Pepper was coated in sweat from head to toe. She was practically delirious now from all the pain. “And then phase two will be her processing the injections.”

 

The door opened, and three technicians entered, “We’re here to relieve you. Shift switch.”

 

“Shift switch?” One of the technicians asked. “I thought we were short on staff.”

 

“Well, someone complained loud enough, so they transferred us, we can leave if you don’t want to be relieved-”

 

“No!” The head technician exclaimed. “We want to be relieved. We were just about to commence the final three injections and start observations for the second phase.”

 

“Easy stuff, then,” One of the new technicians said. “Enjoy your break.”

 

The four technicians filed out. Once they were all gone, and the door closed behind them. These new technicians sprung into action. One of them barricaded the door while the other two stripped out of their hazmat uniforms. This was when Pepper knew she had absolutely gone insane because the faces that she saw were Nat and Maya.

 

“Hey, Pepper,” Nat said, going over. “You with us?”

 

“How is she?” The third technician said, stripping out of the hazmat suit. Pepper recognized the other S.H.I.E.L.D. agent on the Avengers, Claire.

 

“Amazing,” Maya said, looking up at her stats on one of the screens. “I’ve - this is the most successful procedure I’ve ever seen. Look at the epigenetic stability-”

 

“I don’t like how eager you sound. Do we have to finish these injections?” Nat asked.

 

“Unfortunately, yes,” Maya said. “It’s a therapy process. If she doesn’t receive the proper injection trials, she could lose equilibrium, and that could have a result on her regeneration, the  allostasis, the epigenetics, and probably more. I can’t believe they’re doing it this fast, though. I recommended eighteen injections throughout two weeks. They’ve done it in thirty hours.”

 

“She’s gone into a dissociative state,” Nat said, observing the way Pepper was staring blankly ahead. “Common side effect of torture. The mind tries to leave the body to stop from dealing with the pain.”

 

“I’ll get her something to drink,” Claire said, disappearing behind Pepper.

 

“Is there anything we can give her?” Nat asked. “Pain meds?”

 

“They conflict with the serums,” Maya sighed. “I - I wish I could do something.”

 

“Sure,” Nat said. They went over to Pepper and placed a hand on her upper arm. “She’s burning up.”

 

“That’s Extremis,” Maya said. “But she’s very stable. Ridiculously stable. Beyond my predictions stable. Which is a silver lining.”

 

“Pepper’s a better person than any of us,” Nat said. “She deserves so much more than this.” Pepper, from the thoughts she could form, was certainly inclined to agree. 

 

“Here,” Claire said, with a metal tumbler and a plastic straw. When Pepper realized the straw was in her mouth, she greedily started drinking the cold water. Her throat burned, but she was experiencing relief more than anything.

 

“We’re sorry,” Nat said. “But we have to continue, Pepper. Do you understand?”

 

Pepper nodded weakly. She had resigned herself to the suffering.

 

“Maya, this is your project,” Nat said. Maya nodded.

 

“Commencing the... sixteenth injection,” Maya said with a heavy sigh.

 

* * *

 

 

“Can you, uh, stop that?” Toni asked the guard who was playing with Harley’s sister’s watch, which had started beeping a few minutes ago. “Break it, you bought it.”

 

Frustrated with the beeps, he dropped it to the ground and stepped on it. “I think I bought it.”

 

“Okay, that wasn't mine to give away. That belongs to my friend's sister. And that's why I'm gonna kill you first.” Toni said. As she did so, she flexed her hands, summoning the suit.

 

“What are you gonna do to me? You’re zip-tied to a bed,” The guard said.

 

“Baby, that’s a normal Friday night for me,” Toni said with a wink. “Also, you probably should have taken off my legs.” She squeezed and released her toes to a preset pattern and extended her ankles as far as she could until her toes were barely touching the floor. The repulsors in her leg prosthetics activated and she flipped forward, the metal bed frame spinning through the air and knocking into and landing on the guards in front of her. She probably had mere minutes before her suit arrived.

 

She pulled her legs forward as far as possible. There was a terrible ripping noise as the zip ties cut through the polymer dermal layer of her prosthetic ankles, but once they reached the carbon fiber muscular system, they snapped. She repulsed again, flipping forward until she was in a kneeling position. The guards were slowly pulling themselves out from under the bed. She started to quickly rub her hands up and down, trying to generate enough friction to weaken the zip ties and- they snapped just in time for one of the guards to go for a gun. She pushed off and repulsed in his direction, kicking her titanium shin across the side of his face. She grabbed the gun and let off a shot. Then she pulsed off the floor again, crossing her ankles, so she spun around to get the second one with another shot. 

 

She probably made a ruckus, because she heard noises coming down the hall, the patter of more guards on their way. Just as they burst through the doors, a gauntlet shattered through the slit windows near the ceiling and caught onto Toni’s hand. She blasted up, and swooped down, repulsor in one hand, gun in the other, she managed to drop three guards before she slowed down, pressed off the wall above the door, and twisted through the air onto a catwalk, dodging bullets and returning them. She landed on the catwalk, the room was now full of bodies, and one more man rushed in, saw her pointing repulsor and pistol at him, and surrendered immediately.

 

“Honestly, I hate working here, they are so weird,” He said, dropping the gun and running away. 

Toni listened, the coast was clear. She sighed and turned to her gauntlet, “Where’s the rest of you?”

 

Once she managed to get out of the basement and head into the garden, the rest of the suit started to find her. She carefully met each of the pieces of the armor as they latched onto her body, and she caught her faceplate this time, clicking it into place. The heads-up display reactivated.

 

“Phew, it’s good to be back,” she said. “Hello, by the way.”

 

“Hello again, ma’am,” JARVIS said.

 

“Give me an update, how’re we looking?” Toni asked.

 

“Flight capabilities are still recalibrating,” JARVIS said. Her heads-up display locked onto the Iron Patriot suit blasting through the air. Was Rhodey out too? Or had Killian succeeded? Toni was gonna have to run as best she could while wearing her armor. She learned that her greatest foe in the suit was going down the stairs, she nearly tripped three times. As she reached the landing, she got a call on her HUD.

 

“Toni,” Rhodey said. He was alive. She was relieved.

 

“Rhodey, tell me that’s you in the suit,” She said.

 

“No - you got yours?”

 

“Uh, mm, kinda,” she said. He must have still been in the mansion. “The main house, as fast as you can, there’s someone I’d like you to meet.”

 

* * *

 

 

“You, you, you! Move! Get Out!” The guards exclaimed at the bikini-clad women playing ping pong. “The room is secure. I have eyes on the Mandarin.”

 

Toni stepped into view in her suit, “What’s this? I had winners,” She said, ping pong paddle in hand. She hurled it at one of the guards as Rhodey burst through the open window and shot both of them.

 

“What have you come as?” Trevor asked her, staring at Toni in her suit in awe and fear.

 

Rhodey stood up, gun trained on the Mandarin, “You make a move-” He put his foot on the back of the recliner and pushed it down “-I break your face.”

 

“I never thought people had been hurt,” Trevor said. “They lied to me.”

 

“This is the Mandarin?” Rhodey asked in shock and outrage.

 

“He’s underwhelming, I know,” Toni said. “I told you this was all a big cover-up conspiracy by AIM.”

 

“Hi, Trevor, Trevor Slattery,” Trevor said, offering Rhodey his hand. Rhodey slapped it away. “I know I’m shorter in person. A bit smaller. Everyone says that. But, um, hey, if you’re here to arrest me, there’s some people I’d like to roll on, immediat-”

 

“Here’s how it’s gonna work, Daniel Day-Lewis,” Toni said. “You tell us where Killian is going, and he’ll stop doing that.”

 

“Doing what?” Trevor asked. Rhodey pressed the hot barrel of the pistol against Trevor’s ear. “OW! That hurt! I get it, I get it!” He sighed. “Luckily for you,  I do know the plan.”

 

* * *

 

 

“We got an update,” Nat said, slipping the phone back into their pocket. “Toni has Rhodes. They’ve apprehended the Mandarin, and apparently, there’s about to be an attack on Air Force One. Killian has stolen the Iron Patriot armor. They’ve called the Vice President and are heading over for backup.”

 

“And us?” Maya asked.

 

“Once Pepper’s finished the injections, we’re gonna do our best to move her out of here,” Nat said. 

 

“Do the other one,” Pepper said, speaking for the first time since they had come to help her.

 

“Hey,” Nat said. “Are you sure? Maya-”

 

"I'm sure," Pepper insisted.

 

“You’re allowed to take a break, too, you know,” Maya said.

 

“No,” Pepper shook her head. “I want to be as stable as possible, as soon as possible. It’s like ripping off a band-aid, right? And you’re not moving me.”

 

“Sorry?” Nat asked.

 

“We know Killian is coming here,” Pepper said. “Move me, he knows his base is compromised. He’s obsessed with me. He won’t hurt me if I play along. Toni’ll save the president and then she’ll get over here and stop Killian.”

 

“And what about us?” Maya asked.

 

“You’ll keep an eye on me until then,” Pepper said.

 

“I’ll tell Toni the plan,” Nat said, picking up their phone again and sending off a text.

 

* * *

 

 

When Toni met Air Force One in the sky, she feared that she was too late as JARVIS said there was already an Extremis thermogenic signature on board and the Iron Patriot uniform was peeling away. Toni focused on the thermal signature, punching a hand through the window to fire a repulsor in his direction. As the man turned around and started walking to investigate, she slipped in through the cockpit and slammed him into the opposite wall.

 

“The President! Now!” she exclaimed.

 

“He’s not here,” the man said with a regretful smile. His eyes flashed orange, and a hand grabbed Toni’s gauntlet, the heat and strength melted and crushed it. “Try the jet stream?” He suggested. “Speaking of which, go fish.” He lifted up and pressed a detonator. The plane rocked with the force of an explosion. JARVIS was reporting, the audio was picking up screams over the whistle of air. Tony brought both hands down over his head, he caught them with a smile. He was exactly where she wanted him, She activated the arc reactor repulsor and blasted straight through his chest. His smug smile turned to an expression of genuine shock and fear as he slumped against the wall. 

 

“Walk away from that, you son of a bitch,” she said, before blasting through the plane just in time to see the last flight attendant fall through the gaping hole in the side. The Iron Maiden blasted forward as JARVIS set sights on the falling.

 

“How many in the air?” She asked.

 

“Thirteen, ma’am,” JARVIS reported.

 

“How many can I carry?” She asked.

 

“Four, ma’am,” JARVIS said. She needed to think fast. She caught up to the closest one, a flight attendant.

 

The woman was screaming in fear, “Hey, slow down, slow down, what’s your name? Heather?” Toni asked. Heather screamed more as the plane exploded above them. “Heather, listen to me, see that guy?” She spun so Heather could see the falling secret service agent to her left. “I'm gonna swing by, you're just gonna grab him. You got it?” Toni asked.

 

“What - oh!” She said. Then she continued to scream.

 

“I’m going to electrify your arm so you can’t open your hand,” Toni said. “We can do this, Heather.” Toni released Heather, locking her gauntlet around Heather’s wrist and hacking into her nervous system with specific electronic signals as they fell. Heather reached out and grabbed the ankle of the falling man. Toni made sure she would be incapable of letting go. Toni started hacking into his system with the electric current. “Easy - see? Eleven more to go.” She projected her voice through the suit as loud as she could, “Remember that game Barrel of Monkeys? That’s what we’re going to do.” Toni announced.

 

“Eighteen thousand feet,” JARVIS warned.

 

“Come on people, grab your monkey,” Toni said as she swooped lower to catch up with the falling bodies. The secret service agent grabbed a general, who grabbed another agent. “Nice,” Toni said. A woman landed on the Iron Maiden’s back, arms encircling the torso.

 

“Ten thousand feet,” JARVIS warned.

 

Toni caught an aide by the knee with her other hand. The secret service agent on the edge caught the third agent and then lost his grip. “Come on people!” Toni urged. “Come on, come on, come on!”

 

“Six thousand feet,” JARVIS said.

 

The third agent was ensnared by his pant leg, and he caught a secretary. Slowly but surely, they reached twelve monkeys. But there was one more man, plummeting.

“One thousand feet,” JARVIS warned. “Four hundred. Two hundred.”

 

“Somebody get him!” Toni ordered as she dove. Once he was grabbed, she repulsed upward as hard as she could to reduce the force of their fall, and pulled her flaps, so they came to a gentle hover over the water, she set them down not far from the shore. She turned around, making sure they all could swim. They could, cheering up at her.

 

“Nice work, guys,” She said. “Excellent. Good team effort all around. Go us. JARVIS. Pilot her home.” She slipped off the headset and blinked, the heads-up display replaced with the interior of a private jet.

 

“Give me some good news, man,” Rhodey said as she blinked.

 

“I think they all made it,” Toni said.

 

“Oh, thank God.” Rhodey sighed

 

“Yeah, but I missed the President. They stuck him in your suit.”

 

“You missed the President?” Rhodey asked, outraged,

 

“We know where he’s being taken,” Toni said.

 

“You know he’s going to the Norco?” Rhodey asked.

 

“Well, Trevor suspected so,” Toni said. She picked up the headset, “JARVIS, how’s Malibu?”

 

“The cranes have cleared the blast doors, ma’am.”

 

“Excellent,” She said. “Activate the house party protocol, we’re gonna need backup.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed it! 
> 
> I know it's redundant at this point, but I always love hearing from you and receiving your feedback. I like to see what you thought! So, if you have the time, I would appreciate a comment!
> 
> Thank you, until the next one.


	10. Burn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for your continued support. I hope you've enjoyed it so far and are looking forward to what happens next. This is quite an epic chapter if I do say so myself. It is relatively long, but there was no way I could split it up for the sake of pacing or cliffhangers. The only thing left will be the epilogue, which I will discuss more in the notes at the end.
> 
> Thank you again, and without further ado:

 

After the nineteenth injection was done, the final phase was Pepper slowly recovering from nearly a day and a half of constant, scalding pain. It reassured her to know that the three figures in yellow hazmat suits keeping an eye on her and checking her vitals were Maya, Nat, and Claire. She was allowed to have water sporadically, the ache in her muscles slowly seceding as the hours passed. She had drifted off to sleep after Nat had told her Toni had landed in California. And was roused by something cold being pressed to the side of her face. She startled awake with a gasp, to see Killian dabbing at her face with a cool cloth. “Hi,” he said, almost sympathetically. If she had eaten anything in the last day, she could have thrown up then and there. “I knew you could do it, Pepper. I knew you had the potential to be perfect, just like me.”

 

The yellow figure behind her mimed shooting Killian as if it was a question. Probably Nat asking if Pepper wanted them to shoot him. Pepper shook her head. The yellow figure shrugged and went back to reading a computer screen.

 

“You are perfect,” Killian told Pepper, probably misinterpreting her head shake. “Thanks to me. Pepper, this is embarrassing, but I really have been crazy about you since the day I met you. I realized immediately that you were the one, that I had to make you mine.” Pepper tried so hard not to roll her eyes as she had to listen to his entitled confessions of love for her. “But you didn’t want me. And I understood. The old me - who could have ever wanted  _ that _ . He was disgusting. Despicable. Abhorrent. And I hoped, maybe foolishly, that after I remade myself with Extremis, and I saw you again, you would finally fall for me. Head over heels, like I did. After all, a decade had passed, and you had still never found a man who deserved you. But I get it, Pepper. You were too proud. Too busy. Too loyal to Toni Stark to give in to your desires because of _ her  _ irrational fear of weapons, even though she lives in one.” He sighed. “I knew when I was going out to Los  Angeles that I would give you Extremis. I thought you would want in immediately - that’s why I offered it to Stark Industries. Why I offered it to  _ you _ . But I see now… you don’t let yourself admit that you want things. You never have. So I’m sorry that this had to be so… intense. But, you have it now, Pepper. Not only am I perfect for you, but you are also perfect for me. So, tell me, Pepper, what you want. What you’ve always wanted.”

 

“I want you,” Pepper said, her voice crackling and husky through her pain. His expression brightened. “To die,” She continued. His face fell. “Painfully,” She added like a second thought.

 

“Pepper,” he said, trying to sound conciliatory. “I know it hurts now, but trust me, after you’ve recovered, you’ll feel amazing.”

 

“You think,” Pepper continued. “That the reason nobody liked you was because you were disabled because you were geeky and not conventionally attractive. You think that the reason nobody wanted you is that they didn’t recognize what you were capable of, or what you were underneath everything. I want to tell you that none of that is true. The reason nobody likes you is that you are and have always been a disillusioned, self-entitled asshole. You blamed the people around you for your shortcomings, and you internalized every petty offense until they drove you insane. And now, you think that torturing me will make me return your affections. You think that you can make me and shape me into your ideal woman. You think that you can turn me into you. You think I will fall at your feet and worship the ground you walk on because you expect that I will develop the admiration for you that you have for yourself. ” She laughed weakly. “I care as much for you now as I did ten years ago. Which is to say, not at all. And I never have. And I never will. Because I can’t.” She sighed. “You’re right, I’ll never find a man, but that’s because I’ve never looked. You see, Killian, I’ve been in a relationship for about two and a half years now. A committed, monogamous, romantic relationship. And the person who I am in this relationship with, her name is Toni Stark. So do whatever you want to me. Keep me as a trophy. I will never love you.”

 

He huffed angrily, walked over to a table, and knocked it over in a rage. Pepper rolled her eyes. “I’ll kill her,” he threatened.

 

“You can’t,” Pepper said.

 

“I beg to differ,” he laughed.

 

“Then beg,” She replied. “Beg, Killian.”

 

He snorted at her angrily and turned to the guards who were marching in, with the Iron Patriot suit. The suit opened, and President Ellis tumbled out onto his hands and knees.

 

“Welcome aboard, Mr. President!” Killian said, his charismatic bravado returning. “I’d like to show you something,” He led the president to and up the stairwell to the catwalk level above the lab. Pepper sighed with relief and sunk back against the board. One of the yellow hazmat suits came over.

 

“Stark and Rhodes have entered the shipyard,” Nat whispered.

 

“Then loosen my restraints while he’s distracted and get ready to run,” Pepper whispered back.

 

* * *

 

 

Toni and Rhodey decided to get as close as they could as quietly as they could. Once they saw the Norco, however, even they were astounded at the implications of Killian’s plan.

 

“Oh my god,” Rhodey said as he looked around the corner of the shipping container they were crouched behind. He turned to Toni, “He's strung up over the oil tanker. They're gonna light him up, man,” Rhodey said.

 

“Viking funeral,” She nodded.

 

“Public execution,” Rhodey added.

 

“Yeah, death by an oil tanker,” Toni said. They crossed the shipping field between swings from the spotlight beam which looked around for anyone who shouldn’t be there. They made their way to a crane gantry and took it across the rest of the shipyard and to where the beams hovered above the Norco.

 

“Is your gun up?” Rhodey asked as they headed into the thick of it.

 

“Yeah,” Toni said, raising her gun. “What do I do?”

 

“Stay on my six, cover high and don't shoot me in the back,” Rhodey said.

 

“Six, high, back, alright,” Toni said, Looking around. A guard in a perch noticed them and opened fire. Toni shot wildly in his direction as they ducked for cover, but failed to hit either the  guard or the spotlight he was using. “You see that? Nailed it.”

 

“Yeah, you really killed the glass,” Rhodey said sarcastically.

 

“You think I was aiming for the bulb?” Toni asked. “You can't hit a bulb at this distance.”

 

In one fluid motion, Rhodey sprung out of cover and shattered the lightbulb of the spotlight. Toni smiled at him sheepishly.

 

“All personnel, we have hostiles on east unit 12. I repeat, hostiles on unit 12.”

 

“I’m out,” Toni said. “Could you give me- You got extra magazines?”

 

“They’re not universal, Toni,” Rhodey said.

 

“I know what I’m doing. I made this stuff. Give me another one. One of yours.”

 

“I don’t have one that fits that gun.”

 

“You’ve got, like, five of them-” she dropped the gun and climbed into a crouching position, “He’s what I’m going to do, save my spot, ready?” She stood up slightly, peeked over the cover, and dropped back down.

 

“What’d you see?” Rhodey asked.

 

“Too fast, nothing,” She shook her head. “Look, here we go-” She did it again, this time, slow enough to actually see three Extremis soldiers hopping through the cranes. “Three guys, one girl, all armed,” Toni said. They slowly broke away from cover, to see now nearly a dozen Extremis soldiers standing around them, glaring. The familiar orange glow in their eyes and beneath their skin.

 

“God, I would kill for some armor right now,” Rhodey said.

 

“You’re right, we need backup,” Toni said.

 

“Yeah, like, a bunch,” Rhodey said.

 

“You know what,” Toni said, motioning toward the sky. In the distance, a small ball of light was growing larger and larger, a soft whooshing sound could be heard. The ball of light started to split, as there were two, and then eight, and then two dozen balls of light approached.

 

“Is that-” Rhodey began.

 

“Yep.”

 

“Are those-”

 

“Uh-huh,” Toni nodded. It was a considerable legion of Iron Maiden suits, they surrounded the Norco, hovering in the air, ready for orders. “Merry Christmas, buddy!” She said, hopping up onto the metal box they had been taking cover behind. “JARVIS!” She yelled. “Target Extremis heat signatures and disable with  _ extreme _ prejudice.”

 

“Yes, ma’am,” JARVIS echoed through every floating piece of armor.

 

“Well, what are you waiting for? It’s Christmas!” Toni yelled, outstretching her arms in a presentation. “Take them to church!” The Iron Maidens swarmed on the Norco like a hive of angry, robotic bees. They decimated Extremis soldiers, taking some hits and losing some functionality to the occasional explosion, but ultimately taking control of the situation.

 

“This is how you've been managing your downtime, huh?” Rhodey asked.

 

“Everybody needs a hobby,” Toni shrugged. She watched a suit fly past with three soldiers hanging off of it. “Heartbreaker, help Red Snapper out, why don’t you? Heartbreaker managed to annihilate the soldiers, but Red Snapper was too far gone to return to fighting, and spiraled into the air, smashing into the control center and lab above the Norco. The explosion rocked the lab where Pepper was restrained, where Killian and his technicians were upstairs trying to do some movie magic. The ceiling began to cave in, a massive beam separating Nat and Pepper from Claire and Maya.

 

“We’re getting out of here,” Nat declared. “I got Pepper - Claire, get Maya to safety and then help Stark deal with these guys.”

 

Below, on the crane, a suit of armor landed beside Toni, “Nice timing,” She said, hopping in as the suit closed around her.

 

“Oh, yeah. That’s awesome,” Rhodey said. “Give me a suit, okay?”

 

“Sorry,” Toni said. “They’re only coded to my biometrics.”

 

“What does that mean?” Rhodey asked.

 

“But don’t worry, I got you covered,” Toni said, blasting off as another suit of armor landed to give Rhodey a ride via hug.

 

“Ma’am, I’ve located Miss Potts,” JARVIS said.

 

“About time,” Toni replied. She flew to the lab facility.

 

“Finally,” Nat declared as Toni entered the lab. 

 

“Are you guys caved in?” Toni asked.

 

“Very much so,” Nat said. “Don’t try lifting - there’s no integrity.”

 

“Are you gonna be okay?” Toni asked.

 

“I’ve gotten out of tighter spots than this,” Nat said. “Toni, I don’t know where Killian is.”

 

“Well, let me help you and-” As if on cue, a bright orange hand sprung up from the piece of fallen catwalk Toni was crouching on and grabbed the chest of her suit, deactivating her power supply. Killian melted the grating and climbed out of it as if he emerged from the floor. He leaped onto Toni’s chest, straddling her, a glowing finger encircling her arc reactor. Toni strained beneath him. “Don’t get up,” he said. The chest of her suit started to glow orange from his ministrations. “Is it getting hot in there? Are you stuck? Do you feel a little stuck? Like a little turtle, cooking in her little turtle suit?”

 

“I don’t know what’s worse,” Toni said. “That you’re still alive, or that your best threats involve birds, mice, and now turtles. Are you an aspiring Disney Princess?”

 

“Toni,” Pepper called desperately.

 

“Close your eyes,” Killian said to her. “It’ll be okay, honey, close your eyes,” He lifted a glowing hand and brought it down toward Toni’s face. She activated a hidden blade in the gauntlet of her suit, and it sliced Killian’s arm off at the elbow. He stood up, groaning in pain.

 

“I got some ideas playing Assassin’s Creed. You go ahead and take a minute,” Toni said.

 

His arm flew toward the pile of debris Nat and Pepper were stuck under and exploded, melting through the floor. The pile of rubble continued to fall, the pair of them tumbling below. They hit a beam and dropped opposite directions. Pepper tumbled forward and landed on a crane walkway, her legs trapped beneath more debris. Nat managed to twist through the air as they fell, landing on a different support beam on all fours like a cat. An Extremis body that was dispatched by one of the Maidens fell and hit a control panel, and the crane Pepper was trapped on started to pull away. 

 

Toni saw all of this through the gap in the floor, pulled herself out of the ruined suit, and sprinted after Pepper through the maze of beams and cranes. A team of Extremis guards started chasing Toni as she ran along the walkway parallel to the beam Nat was on. Nat picked themself up and started running after Toni. Nat pulled a gun and shot one of the guards in the head. His body spasmed and he flipped off the walkway. They leaped from the beam, rolled onto the walkway behind the guards, and launched widow bites at the Extremis guards from the dispensary on their wrist. All but one were tased, spasming and charging to explode with the destabilizing electricity. Toni leaped off the catwalk, still running in tandem with the crane Pepper was trapped on. The only surviving guard jumped the gap after her and was smashed into by a piece of armor. Nat leaped as well, the walkway and support columns beneath the lab exploding with the destabilized Extremis bodies. Nat landed on the next walkway as the metal behind them creaked and the entire lab shifted, tumbling forward and smashing into the crane Pepper was on, and Toni was chasing.

 

The crane started to swing to one side, Pepper now further away from the walkway.

 

“I need a suit!” Toni yelled, jumping another gap and cutting a right angle, trying to get closer to Pepper. “JARVIS, I need a suit!” She called. A suit started to hover at the end of the walkway. Toni ran toward it and jumped at it. Nat saw an Extremis agent throw a barrel at the suit. Nat pulled the grappling claw from their tool belt and shot it at Toni’s ankle. The spires dug into the ripped flesh of her prosthetic. The suit was knocked aside and exploded from getting hit with the oil drum, and Toni fell forward. Nat was knocked off balance by the force of Toni being yanked, and to compensate, counterbalanced too effectively and landed on their ass. Toni started to fall, and the cord over the railing acted like a pulley system, dragging Nat along the catwalk toward the edge. Nat kicked against the railing when they got close enough, stopping Toni’s descent.

 

* * *

 

 

Rhodey had gotten to one of the cranes that had chained the president. The suit was suspended with two chains, both wrung through a pulley and connected to a shipping container beneath the crane’s hook. “Mr. President!” Rhodey called from the crane’s catwalk. “Just hold on, alright? I’m coming! Just hold on!” Rhodey noticed multiple Extremis soldiers landing on the walkway he was on. “Just hold on, alright? Hold on!” He ran toward the edge of the crane, pulled his belt loose, and used it to zip line down the chain and land on the counterweight shipping container. Four Extremis soldiers landed after him. He unloaded a magazine into the two of them, but they just smiled at him and glowed orange as their bodies repaired from the bullets. 

 

Suddenly, from nowhere, an arrow whistled through the air and embedded itself in the head of one of the Extremis soldiers furthest to Rhodey. The bolt exploded, as did the man, and the resulting blast knocked everyone on the shipping container forward and off-balancing it. Rhodey tumbled off the side and grabbed onto the bottom edge of the container. The other three soldiers scrambled to their feet and looked down at him, guns pointed.

 

Rhodey glanced up to where the arrow came from, where a woman was perched with a bow. She gave him a thumbs-up and then notched and released another arrow. This one embedded itself in the links of the chain and snapped it. The shipping container fell, so the top where the soldiers stood was now perpendicular with the ground, causing them to tumble away, and Rhodey swung forward, toward the president. He leaped from the edge of the container and latched onto the side of the Iron Patriot suit with both arms and legs. The counterweight shipping container was only supported by one chain now, and that chain snapped from the sheer amount of tension. The container fell to the ground, the oil inside of it combined with the Extremis bodies below it erupted into a massive fireball. As the counterweight fell, Rhodey and the President swung to the other side. Rhodey landed and rolled on the upper deck of the Norco. An arrow snapped the second chain, and the President landed a story above him, fine, thanks to the armor.

 

“You look damn good, Mr. President, but I’m gonna need that suit back,” Rhodey said. He took a ladder to the upper level. President Ellis managed to disengage from the suit, and Rhodey stepped inside, Iron Patriot once again.

 

“The President is secure,” he said into the comm system that Toni, Nat, and Claire were on. “I’m clearing the area.”

 

“Nice work,” Toni said.

 

“How are you?” Rhodey asked.

 

“Oh, you know, just, hanging,” Toni said.

 

Indeed, she was hanging. Nat couldn’t stand up in fear of Toni dropping. The grappling hook went over the railing and down, where it was latched onto Toni’s leg. Toni was suspended by her ankle, and about a yard in front of her was Pepper, trapped beneath the debris and pinned to an unstable crane, which was groaning, shifting, and likely to collapse any second.

 

“I think,” Toni said, “If I swing, I can grab Pepper. Nat - Nat am I secure?”

 

“Mostly,” Nat groaned.

 

“Okay,” Toni said. She clenched her toes of the leg that did not have a grappling hook embedded in it and let it slowly propulse forward. She cut propulsion and swung backward, then on the next forward swing toward Pepper, she let herself propulse forward again, widening the arc of her swing. “JARVIS, if you could spare a suit at all, that would be lovely,” Toni said as she propulsed forward a third time. At the fourth time, she was close enough she managed to touch Pepper’s fingertips. The fifth time, she went the same distance. That was the extent of her swing due to the length Nat provided.

 

“I need more slack!” Toni called. Nat leaned forward as far as they could, providing a few more inches. Their muscles were straining.

 

“Any more slack and I lose you!” Nat exclaimed.

 

On the sixth swing. Toni caught Pepper by her wrist, and Pepper grabbed onto Toni’s wrist immediately.

 

“I got you,” Pepper gasped.

 

“I got you first,” Toni said with a smile.

 

Then, the massive crane Pepper was trapped to groaned and swung down and to the side. Toni was pulled along with Pepper, and everyone was straining to hold on. Nat was gritting and grunting in pain as they tried to support Toni. The grappling cord was so ridiculously taut it was threatening to snap at any moment. The grappling hook’s prongs that were embedded in Toni’s leg were scraping against the titanium bones. Toni was pulling with all her might, and Pepper was too. Pepper was gasping through pain, her arm bulged out wider than Toni had ever seen it go before like she had gained thirty pounds of muscle mass in the last three days. 

 

“Toni,” Pepper said. “Let go.”

 

“What?” Toni asked.

 

“It’s gonna be okay,” Pepper promised weakly, her arm still flexing, shoulder trembling.

 

“No!” Toni protested. “I - I got you! I’m not letting go!”

 

“Toni, please,” Pepper begged.

 

“Pepper-”

 

“It’s gonna be alright,” Pepper promised.

 

“Pepper!”

 

Pepper let go of Toni’s wrist, and her arm went slack. The amount of force that Toni was fighting immediately tripled, and Pepper’s hand, slick with sweat, slipped through hers. The entire crane platform she was trapped in fell with her, and she disappeared in a ball of fire.

 

“No!” Toni exclaimed.

 

“What a pity,” Killian said. Nat looked up. He was standing above them. “ _ I  _ would have held onto her.” 

 

“Toni - fly!” Nat exclaimed, leaping over the railing. Toni activated her prosthetics propulsors and launched into the air, Nat fell and then was dragged upward by Toni and the grappling line.  Toni spun through the air, and Nat swung the same direction in a wide arc, taking out an Extremis soldier with a gun and looping back toward Killian, kicking him square in the chest with both feet, letting go, landing on the catwalk behind him, and running. Killian rolled backward over his shoulder, turned around, and ran after Nat. Toni, having finally caught up to a suit of armor, landed in his path. Nat continued to run away, flipping off the catwalk and engaging with the approaching Extremis soldiers so Toni could focus on Killian.

 

Toni dodged Killian’s hook and smashed a metal fist into his cheekbone. It shattered beneath her fist and repaired itself as the fight continued. Killian swung an uppercut, which Toni mostly dodged, but he managed to rip the pauldron from her suit. She avoided a second uppercut completely. She swiped at him and let off a repulsor, blast, but he dodged, caught her gauntlet in one hand, and spun her, ripping a piece of armor off her abdomen as he did so. She completed the rotation he set her on and used it to backhand him, grab him by the back of the head, and smash his head into the railing. He resisted her attempt to flip him off the catwalk, slipping his head under her arm and ripping off her gauntlet. She punched at him, and he punched at her, and when his Extremis fist hit her armor, her armor shattered and blasted off her other hand. He groaned in pain, flexing his hand as the broken bones repaired themselves before Toni’s eyes, and then lunged at her, pushing her through the railing of the catwalk, so she landed on a lower level. He leaped down onto her fist heading directly into her chest.

 

“Eject!” She commanded. She rocketed out of the suit with the bottom half still attached, repulsors at the hips launching her off the platform. She twisted through the air, getting transferred to another suit of armor, and rocketing up at Killian who was leaning over the railing of the platform. He didn’t realize she was gunning toward him until it was too late. She pushed him upward, slamming him repeatedly into the side of the crane as they scaled it. She dropped him on the top of the crane and flipped over him. As his ribs repaired themselves, his shirt went to ash on his body, exposing the brilliant orange in his molten chest and the dragon tattoos across his shoulders and pectorals. Toni blasted at him with the repulsors, but his enhanced speed - his extremely enhanced speed - allowed him to dodge and roll out of the way of her blasts and close the distance between them. His flaming fist ripped through her armor as he swiped at her wildly, taking chunks out of it as he dodged around Toni’s swings and blasts. She managed to knock him into one of the cable spools, but Killian ducked out of the way before she could get him with her repulsors. Toni pointed a hand at him and activated her repulsors, but he caught her gauntlet and twisted in her face at the last moment, sending her backward off the top of the crane. A repulsor in her back brought her back up to him. He swung an arm down at her, but she caught it and kneed him in the chest. Then she blasted her repulsor and kneed him in the chest again, with even more force. His sternum caved in, and he groaned in pain, reeling backward. Toni hit him across the face and swung her hips over in a kick into his side. He caught her leg under his arm and spun with it, pulling her armor and cutting through both the armor and the prosthetic beneath it. He then used her own leg to hit her across the face. She, with only one functioning leg, fell off balance and onto her hands and knees. He approached her. She brought a hand up to blast him, but he caught it and crushed her gauntlet.

 

“Well, here we are,” He said with a smug smile. He charged his hand and brought it down onto her head. Toni ejected out of the back of the suit as he sliced it down the middle. She fell onto he back on the level below, trying to crawl away from Killian. The Mark Forty-Two, with one of its repulsors misfiring, headed toward Toni as a backup. “The prodigal daughter returns,” She said with a smile. She held her hand out to summon it, and it smashed into the side of the crane and fell into a thousand pieces around her. “Whatever.”

 

“You really didn’t deserve her, Toni,” Killian, said, looking down at her. Killian shook his head, “It’s a pity. I was so close to having her... perfect.”

 

He jumped down onto the platform she was on. She scrambled backward in a sort of crab walk, stopping as close to the edge as possible, hands raised defensively. “Okay, okay, wait, wait, wait! Slow down! Slow down! You're right. I don't deserve her.” Toni said with a strained sigh. “Here’s where you’re wrong. She was already perfect.”

 

Toni pressed her hands together and pushed them toward Killian. The Mark Forty-Two armor started constructing around him, holding him back while imprisoning him in her suit of armor. The repulsors forced him to be pushed against the wall.

 

“JARVIS,” Toni said. “Do me a favor and blow the Mark Forty-Two.”

 

“NO!” Killian roared as the helmet enclosed around his face. Toni rolled to the side and landed on the diagonal edge of the crane’s beam. She slipped down like it was a slide as the armor exploded behind her. A suit of armor was flying beneath her, she pushed off with her one good foot and landed chest-first. It built up around her as she tumbled through the air, crashing onto the lowest walkway of the falling crane. She dropped off the side and used the one functioning repulsor to break her fall as she fell onto the deck of the Norco, the cranes above her were creaking and crashing into each other.

 

* * *

 

 

Nat shoved a piece of railing into the nearest Extremis soldier and kicked them off the side. As the crane walkway they were on was smashed into, it flipped over, and Nat held on for dear life. Claire swung from her perch, hanging from a cord that linked her bow to a rappelling arrow in the only stable crane.

 

“Need a hand?” Claire asked.

 

“My hero,” Nat said sarcastically, grabbing onto Claire. Claire pushed off the crashing walkway, the line swung away, and Claire gave the coil a slow slack as they headed down to the deck of the Norco and took cover as everything went to hell above them, fire, metal, and Extremis bodies raining down.

 

* * *

 

 

Toni did not take cover, not seeing in the point, and was quite annoyed when not one falling piece of debris managed to hit her as she lay on the ground, missing a leg and sore all over. An Iron Maiden helmet rolled into a nearby flame. Toni watched as fire surrounded the head until the faceplate popped off. Typical. Then, something caught Toni’s eye. A figure was moving in the flames, picking itself up as chunks of flesh regrew and bones put themselves back into the proper places. Killian’s skin was charred black, with bright orange fire pouring out of his eyes, nose, and mouth. He looked like he had been drenched in lava, his skin as hot and fluid as the layers of the earth. There were deep cracks across his face, chest, back, arms and legs where the molten skin started to cool. Also, he was naked, not that there was much left to see, that probably wasn’t fun. Toni scrambled backward as far as she could, but she was surrounded by debris and unable to walk.

 

“No more false faces!” Killian declared  - voice as cracked as his skin and very raspy. “You said you wanted the Mandarin, you're looking right at him. It was always me, Tony. Right from the start. I am the Mandarin!” He declared, fire flaring off of his skin, arms outstretched, a furious snarl on his face.

 

Suddenly, a support pole arced through the air like a bat and smashed into him, his body tumbled backward through the air several yards with the sheer force of the strike. Toni looked over to the swinger and saw Pepper standing there. Pepper clearly was experiencing the effects of Extremis, but she didn’t look like any of the other Extremis soldiers. Instead of charred flesh, orange flames, and the eerie orange glow beneath the bones and behind the eyes, all of Pepper’s peachy skin was glowing and like gold. The look on her face was not crazed fury or aggression, but determination. Toni felt like she was gazing up at the sun. Then, a low-flying Iron Maiden suit approached, clearly locked on Pepper.

 

“JARVIS, subject at my 12 o'clock is not a target - disengage!” Toni exclaimed. She reached for her ear and saw that her comm unit had fallen out in the fall. A repulsor blasted at Pepper. She stepped out of the way quickly and squinted at Toni.

 

“What?” Toni asked. “Are you mad at me?”

 

Pepper ran forward and launched off of Toni’s bent knee, soaring into the air and punching her hand straight through the reactor of the suit, grounding it. She landed hard but didn’t seem to mind. Her hair flipped over her face and cascaded down her back as she looked up at Toni. Her eyes weren’t burning, but a glowing. Like a glimmering, rosy, and aureate sunrise. Aldrich Killian roared and ran at them. As he came forward, Pepper kicked him square in the chest with a nasty crack. He was launched backward, smacking onto the asphalt with a nastier crunch.

 

“Ooh,” Toni winced.

 

Pepper advanced on Killian. He stood up, she kicked off of an oil drum and arced over him in an aerial rotation, grabbing his head on the way down. Her hooked her fingers into the base of his jaw like his bones were made of rubber, twisted over his body in the arc of her leap, and pulled. There was a loud crackle, snap, and pop, followed by a sickening squelch. She dropped his head. His body slumped one way, and the head rolled the other. She stepped over his body and back toward Toni. As she did so, the golden glow in her eyes and on her skin faded. She blinked a few times, and she was back to normal, a look of shock and confusion on her face as she was processing what was happening.

 

“Honey?” Toni asked. Pepper dropped to her knees in from of Toni.

 

“Oh my god,” Pepper said. “That was… really violent.”

 

“You scared the devil out of me,” Toni said. “I thought you were-”

 

“Dead?” Pepper asked. “Because I fell two hundred feet into a fireball?” She scoffed. Toni’s cheek was stinging where her tears were mixing with the blood from a gash on her cheek. Pepper reached up and cupped the cheek, her warm hand had a numbing effect on Toni, who still sniffed pathetically. “Who’s the hot mess now?” Pepper asked.

 

“That’s still debatable,” Toni said. “You’re hotter, but I’m far messier.” Pepper smiled weakly. Toni picked up her comms unit and slipped it back in her ear. “Pepper’s alive, and Killian’s dead.” She said.

 

“Oh, thank god,” Nat said over the comms. “Did get to she kill him?”

 

“She really killed him,” Toni said. "He is incredibly killed. And headless."

 

“Damn,” Claire said.

 

“And she - the Extremis is different on her,” Toni said.

 

“That’s my fault,” Maya said (when was she over the comms?). “I had come up with a way to further stabilize it, Pepper agreed it be administered to her, but I haven’t tried it on any human specimen before. It was a gamble, and the results weren’t what we expected. Turns out, your girlfriend’s genetic strain was not accounted for in my initial botanical tests. It altered the desired effect of epigene stability. She’s stable. She’s also one of the most enhanced recipients of Extremis I’ve ever met, in the regards to regeneration, metabolic output, and  _ stable  _ exothermic manipulation.”

 

“You’re stable?” Toni asked Pepper, processing this information.

 

Pepper shrugged, “Maya thought so.”

 

“You were glowing  _ gold _ , Pepper,” Toni said. “You were rosy and peachy and sparkling like a goddamn goddess.”

 

“I do like rose gold,” Pepper said. She had an odd, pensive expression on her face. “You know, I think I realize now why you don’t want to give up your suits. What am I gonna complain about now?”

 

“Well, it’s me,” Toni said, smiling, “You’ll think of something.”

 

“Are we good?” Pepper asked.

 

“You’re in a relationship with me, things will never be good,” Toni said.

 

“Are  _ we _ good?” Pepper asked. Toni realized what Pepper was asking.

 

“Honey, we’re the best,” Toni said. “I love you.”

 

“I love you too,” Pepper said. “We should get out of here.”

 

Pepper scooped Toni up, bridal-style, and carried her off the deck of the Norco. Waiting in the shipyard were agents Romanoff and Barton, Rhodey in his Iron Patriot uniform, and Maya Hansen in a yellow hazmat suit.

 

“You know, Stark, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you had a thing for being carried around by tall, muscular women,” Nat said. “First Stephanie. Then the Hulk. Now Pepper.”

 

“Fuck off, Romanoff,” Toni said, but she couldn’t help but laugh. “Thank you all, for everything you’ve done. Even you, Hansen.”

 

“Thanks for giving me a chance, Stark,” Maya said. Toni gave her a half-shrug.

 

“Hey, Pepper,” Toni said. She was nearly shaking, from the moment she realized Pepper was alive, she realized what she had to do. “I need to tell you something.”

 

“What?” Pepper asked.

 

“I - I’ve been dumb,” Toni said. “And, I’ve been scared. I thought that keeping secrets would keep me safe, keep us safe. But… I can’t help but feel like it’s just gotten us into trouble. And made us miserable along the way. And, I don’t want to be miserable. You are the best thing that ever happened to me, and I’m not afraid of that anymore. You know, a while back, I asked Rhodey to, uh, hold onto something for me. And I don’t know if he has it now-”

 

“Of course I have it! I always have it! Because you’re a spontaneous idiot and I don’t want to be the one to ruin your moment,” Rhodey said. He tossed Toni something from a compartment in  his suit.

 

“What’s going on?” Pepper asked.

 

“This is  _ so _ cliche. But, Pepper Potts - will you marry me?”

 

“What?” Pepper asked, looking at the little black box Toni was holding open. “Oh, no - I mean, yes, I wanna marry you, but, ugh, If only I had the-”

 

“This?” Nat asked, holding up a blue box. They tossed it over, and Pepper caught it.

 

“I was gonna propose to  _ you _ ,” Pepper said.

 

“Oh my god we’re so gay,” Toni said. 

 

“I can’t believe it, how long were you planning this?” Pepper asked. “I got this for you after you met my mother.”

 

“Ha!” Toni said. “I got this for you  _ first _ . After our first date!”

 

“After our first date?!” Pepper was shocked. “Is that why the metallurgists produce a temperature resistant rose gold and titanium alloy?”

 

“Why else?” Toni grinned.

 

Toni and Pepper then started laughing, fumbling to exchange the rings while Toni was still leaning on Pepper for support since she only had one functioning leg. 

 

“You know what this engagement needs?” Toni asked. “Fireworks. JARVIS?”

 

“The Clean Slate protocol, ma’am?” JARVIS asked.

 

“Yes, please,” Toni said. Pepper looked up as the few remaining Iron Maiden suits dancing through the air erupted into explosions of red, orange, and gold sparks. 

 

“I think Killian’s people are still live broadcasting,” Claire said, pointing at a very harrowed cinematographer pointing the camera at the group while clearly fearing for her life.

 

“Let’s give ‘em something to broadcast,” Pepper said, pulling Toni to her chest and tilting her back into a dramatic kiss as the Iron Maiden explosions erupted behind them.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So.... what did you think?
> 
> As for the epilogue, it's not going to be very long. However, I have a filler fic of sorts that accompanies it, and when I post the epilogue, I will include a link to the filler fic, which I will post mostly at once, and will be alternating between Toni's P.O.V. and Stephanie's P.O.V. Anyway, I hope you're all looking forward to that. 
> 
> And, as always, your feedback in its many forms are appreciated, and your comments are adored particularly.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, and I'll see you at the epilogue.


	11. Christmas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading and staying with Rose Gold until the end. I loved this one, and I hope you all did as well.

 

The first thing that greeted Toni and Pepper at the Stark Tower penthouse when they finished their very long joint agency debriefing and accompanied interview was a bone-crushing hug delivered by none other than Captain Stephanie Barnes.

 

“You said everything was  _ fine _ !” She said accusingly while pulling away. “Bertie and I saw here and watched while the President was  _ kidnapped _ , and we saw you guys nearly die half a dozen times on  _ live television _ . You got  _ engaged _ .”

 

“A very succinct summary of the last few days, there, Steph,” Toni said.

 

“Thank you for caring,” Pepper said with a smile.

 

“You got engaged,” Stephanie repeated.

 

“Yeah, you said that.” Toni nodded.

 

“You got engaged!” Stephanie beamed, hugging the couple again.

 

“Ow, yes, Jesus,” Toni said. “You - you have super strength, remember!”

 

“Right,” Stephanie said, pulling away again, but still smiling. “You gonna tell us what happened?”

 

“I mean, I only showed up, like halfway through and I still have plenty of questions,” Nat said, emerging from the dining room.

 

“When did you get here?” Toni asked.

 

“Like, five minutes ago,” Nat said. “Claire and I brought food.”

 

“Food?” Toni asked.

 

“Christmas dinner!” Stephanie exclaimed.

 

“Wait - but… what about spending time with your family?” Toni asked. “The Barnes clan?”

 

“They’re Jewish,” Stephanie said. “They don’t celebrate Christmas. So, I’m gonna spend it with my friends.”

 

“And your son,” Bertie said from where she sat in the living room. “Stephanie, you said I’d just have to watch him for a second - he’s walking!”

 

“It's still coasting, technically,” Stephanie said seriously, going over to pick up James Joseph Barnes who was balancing on the couch as he shuffled away from Bertie. Stephanie spun him through the air. He  squealed with laughter.

 

* * *

 

 

Toni explained everything that had happened, from the very top. She explained Aldrich Killian, Maya Hansen, Harley Keener, and everything she had done along the way. “And I blew up the suits. And then I thought to myself, ‘Why stop there?’ Of course, some people say progress is dangerous, but I'll bet none of those idiots ever had to live with a chestful of shrapnel. And, hopefully, neither will I.” Toni said. “JARVIS already has a shortlist of cardiac surgeons ready.” Pepper squeezed Toni’s hand with a reassuring smile. Toni was lost in her gaze and then came back to reality, clearing her throat, “So, if I were to wrap this up, tie it with a bow, or whatever… I guess I'd say my armor; it was never a distraction or a hobby. It was a cocoon. And now that I realize that, I'm a changed woman. They can take away my house, all my tricks, and toys. One thing they can't take away is that I am the Iron Maiden.”  Toni sighed. “And thank you, by the way, for listening. Plus, something about just getting it off my chest, and putting it out there in the atmosphere, instead of holding this in… I mean, this is what gets people sick, you know.”

 

“We are very aware,” Stephanie said. “And, uh, I have a suggestion at least. You should consider seeing a professional for, you know, talking through things. If it’s helped so much now, I  mean...”

 

“Are you saying I should get therapy?” Toni asked.

 

“It helped me,” Stephanie said. “When I needed it. And, if you want to-”

 

“Well, you said it in front of Pepper, so now I feel like I  _ have _ to,” Toni said.

 

“Only if you want to,” Pepper said.

 

“No - It’s a good idea. Thank you, Stephanie. One I probably should have committed to a while ago. Bertie - you’re a psychologist, aren’t you?”

 

“I have one Ph.D. in it, yes,” Bertie said. “I also lack the, er, temperament for those sorts of things now.”

 

“I’ve had, like, fifty therapists,” Nat said. “If you need a recommendation, a few of them are still alive.”

 

“Fifteen, that’s so many,” Toni said. “Wait - you said  _ fifty _ .”

 

Nat shrugged.

 

“Okay, I have a question,” Stephanie said. “What’s going to happen to Hansen?”

 

“S.H.I.E.L.D. is helping her round up and stabilize the remaining Extremis soldiers,” Nat said. “So far, none of them have Pepper’s mutation and are losing most of their powers beyond the effects of their regeneration when given the stabilizing agent. Once that’s done, she’ll probably get stuck in a lab somewhere to process icky samples and receive exhaustively careful supervision.”

 

“Good,” Toni said. “I’m not sure I trust her still.”

 

“And the kid?” Bertie asked.

 

“He’s getting a bit of a gift from me,” Toni said. “To thank him for everything. He’s a good kid, I trust him.”

 

“So,” Stephanie said. “What’s the press circuit gonna look like now that the world knows you two are engaged?”

 

“We’re gonna get a spot on  _ Ellen _ ,” Toni said. “Do a few other talk shows. We have no immediate wedding plans. Not until after I’m a bit more stable. Which means the chest surgery and, I guess, therapy.”

 

“Well, it’s good to wait,” Stephanie said. “Gives you a lot of time to plan. I assume you’re not having a small wedding.”

 

“We’re hoping it’s the gayest event of the twenty-first century,” Toni said. “I want to outdo every royal wedding ever.”

 

“And I have to plan it,” Pepper smiled.

 

“I’ll help a bit! Give me some credit!” Toni said.

 

“Twelve percent,” Pepper said with a smile.

 

“Are you ever gonna let that go?” Toni exclaimed. Pepper laughed.

 

We don’t all get to create our own demons, we don’t get to pick out trauma, we can’t always control how far we fall or how badly we fail, but we all have it in us to do better. At any moment, we can stand up, we can pick a path, and we can fight for something worthwhile. Demons are fickle things, but like anything, they can be killed. It just takes a little bit of work.

 

Toni Stark will get [Therapy](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17832818/chapters/42077909)

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was just a bit of a filler, but it does do an excellent job at setting the sort of meaningless fluff that is Therapy. I'm going to work on uploading the first five chapters now, publishing my way through Dark World, and then adding the last section which is an addendum to Dark World.


End file.
